


A Cinderella Season

by sian1359



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hockey, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 13:32:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 49,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16598867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sian1359/pseuds/sian1359
Summary: Everyone knows that expansion teams are lucky when they don't finish last in their division. The Manhattan Avengers don't care what everyone knows; they see no reason why they can't play for the Cup.





	1. Story

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Cinderella Season - Artpost](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16597709) by [Huntress79](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/pseuds/Huntress79). 
  * Inspired by [ART for: A Cinderella Season](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16606802) by [cassandrasfisher](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassandrasfisher/pseuds/cassandrasfisher). 



> All resemblances to the inaugural year for the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL are intentional. None of the Marvel characters or interactions, however, are meant to be a counterpart to any real life person, player, or game. I have drawn on the MCU and Marvel television 'verse for characters and personalities, as well as gone to Marvel and DC comics to populate this world's version of the NHL. I am reasonably familiar with the game and unreasonably fond of the Vegas Golden Knights, but I have never actually played it. All of the rules, lingo, and interpretations have been filtered through an artistic license for sake of the plot. 
> 
> The hockey game that is part of this story is an amalgam of a variety of games I listened to or watched, then transcribed and pieced together to fit the narrative (including in-booth commercials).
> 
> Additionally, this is a world where women can play pro hockey right alongside men, and rampant homophobia no longer exists. 
> 
> Auburnnothenna did her normal magnificent job of making everything sound better; if you see any errors, they are all mine responsibility. 
> 
> Art-links:

 

**Now:**

_"Good evening and welcome everyone to this, the seventh and final game in this year's Stanley Cup Finals. I'm Rick Jones. With me tonight is Hall-of-Fame Superstar, and still the League's top scorer, Carol Danvers. Tell me, Carol, in your wildest imaginings, did you ever think the finals would end up here in Manhattan in the Strategic Scientific Reserve Arena for game seven?_

_"Never, Rick. Like everyone else, I expected few would even be attending the Avengers' final game of the_ regular _season, much less things being standing room only throughout the playoffs. The casino sports books all across the country had the Avengers at 500 to 1 on opening day. Even at the All-Star break, few people thought the team would continue to play at the level that had them leading the League at 19 wins, 2 losses and 2 ties."_

_"I guess no one told the odds to Nick Fury or Phil Coulson, Carol. Or to the players. How many former coaches are kicking themselves for deeming this roster expendable? How many players, do you think, are having what may be their career season out of spite for being on offer in the Expansion Draft to the newest team in the League?"_

_"Considering there have been expansion drafts to staff new teams before, not just in the NAHL, but in all of the Big Four leagues, yet no expansion team has_ ever _managed to attain all of records and accomplishments that the Avengers have in their inaugural season, there is real talent there, not just luck. And not just from the players, Rick, but from the entire staff and support from the General Manager on down. The spite, that's just the cherry on top against everyone who called them misfits."_

**Then:**

Not seeing his on the list when the Wonders released the names of their protected players didn't really surprise Clint. Buck Chisolm still had a few good years left, barring injury, and while Clint was statistically the better player, Marcella Carson was incredibly loyal to her players, like her father had been, with nearly a third of the team having only played for the Wonders their entire career in the Majors. Even Clint was one of those one-team only players, though, he guessed, not any longer. Between him and Chisholm, Carson might get a couple decent future draft picks in trading Clint, since it was now obvious he'd just be traded to someone else later if the Avengers didn't chose him as their player from the Wonders in the Expansion Draft,

Clint wasn't even sure he was that disappointed. He'd played the bench more than the ice his entire professional career as Buck would either have to die or at least retire for Clint to be a starter for the team. If he was ever going to show that his Olympic performance wasn't just a fluke, this could be best chance thanks to the horrible contract he'd foolishly signed ten years ago.

Okay, no, he was a little disappointed to not be considered valuable enough to protect. He was more disappointed, however, that Marcella hadn't told him directly that he'd been left in the wind – or at least had Coach Tiboldt break the news instead of finding it out from Dan and Casey on _Sports Night_. For a moment Clint wondered if Tiboldt had at least told Barney; if that's why his brother had left for a long weekend of partying and celebrating in Las Vegas instead of making even a token protest.

The days when Barney had been so damn happy they'd ended up playing for the same team had disappeared last year, after Barney got his starting defensive position when Tiboldt decided the team needed an old-fashioned goon to help their play. All too happy to oblige, Barney had racked up the second highest number of penalty minutes in the League for the season as well as had the most major penalties called on him. Barney's salary increase wasn't going to be able to keep up with League imposed fines or his ever inflating ego, and certainly not the new lifestyle that he'd modeled after the top line's center and team captain, Jacques Duquesne. Parties, women, and fast cars had become Barney's life when they weren't on the ice, to the point where first Clint had been forced to throw Barney out of the modest house in Des Plaines they owned together, and then to buy his brother out of the mortgage. From what Clint had heard from Buck, Barney now crashed at Dusquesne's apartment in River North, but not before taking all of his profits from the house and buying a fucking Aston Martin. Because in addition to wanting acceptance from Jacques Duquesne, Barney also wanted to be James fucking Bond.

Well, Clint just wanted to play hockey. If that meant with the Manhattan Avengers, so be it.

**Now**

_"Speaking of Nick Fury, you are one of the few people who worked with Fury as both a player and when he moved into coaching. And now he has put together this amazing team as the Avengers' General Manager. So which do you think he does better, Carol?"_

_"Nice, putting me on the spot like that, Rick, but I do have an answer. Or, at least, an opinion. Fury's stats and Cup wins led him to the Hall of Fame as a player, but even if he'd never put stick to puck, once he becomes eligible as a coach, he'd still be in there. Maybe just from what he accomplished with those three Olympic teams alone. None of that, however, stands up to what he's done this year with his cast-offs. The Avengers are in the Stanley Cup, by God, and how I wish I was young enough to be there alongside them, playing for Fury and Phil Coulson."_

**Then:**

Maria walked straight up the hall to the door at room 1178 and knocked without pausing; without taking the deep breath a part of her thought she should. She had no reason to feel intimidated by the two on the other side of the door. Comparing their records, she had a better win-loss ratio than Coulson did, even if she'd only ever coached on the college level. Peggy Carter had hired her directly. Before Ms. Carter had been able to convince Fury to leave New England and take the Avenger's General Manager position. There was also the fact that Fury had called Maria to this meeting so that she, Coulson and Fury could discuss their ideas about who should be picked in the expansion draft, when Fury could have just made his picks without input from anyone else. Obviously he thought her opinions mattered.

Or he was using this meeting as a way of testing how knowledgeable or out of touch Maria was with the current teams and players in the NAHL. Looking, maybe, to catch her out so he could sideline an assistant coach he had no say in hiring.

If that latter thought was part or all of his reasoning, Fury wasn't going to find Maria lacking in either knowledge or opinions. She wasn't a shrinking violet, even if some of her bravado was built more from stubbornness than confidence. Maria had earned this shot in the big leagues. She would make Peggy Carter proud, would show Fury and Coulson her value, but even more than that, she would do right by her team. Starting with helping pick who that team would be.

"Coach Hill," the man who opened the door said with a nod to her.

She nodded back and stuck out her hand. "Coach Coulson. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Phil Coulson smiled, transforming his face from that of someone she'd probably not have paid attention to in passing him on the street, to someone she'd be interested in meeting. "Same here, he offered, along with a firm handshake "You did some remarkable things at Point Durne."

"Yeah, but for all of my accomplishments there, I never was able to convince them to change their mascot's name from Sparkles," Maria said wryly, accepting his praise with another nod and some gratitude that he seemed to have done some research on her, just as she'd done on him. She'd read his stats as both a college player who'd never made it to the pros due to injury, to Coulson becoming one of the NJL's more lauded assistant coaches. Lauded, even if she didn't recall ever actually seeing him behind the Hydra bench in any of the games she'd watched in prep to this meeting. Not noticing him could have been because his resting face was pretty forgettable, or it could have been because Hydra's GM, Alexander Pierce, along with Head Coach Garrett, weren't known for sharing the spotlight. Regardless, she supposed, Phil Coulson obviously had been instrumental enough in Hydra's wins for Fury to have chosen him as the Avengers' Head Coach.

Coulson's laugh was a nice as his smile. "Was it a guy or a gal inside the Robin costume?" he asked. "Lerna held a guy."

"The Hydra's name is Lerna?" Maria asked with an involuntary snort. "Just changing the team name from the Trinities to the Hydras was bad enough, but who was the frustrated Classics student? And does anyone else get it? I don't think even the Wikipedia page listed a name for DC's mascot."

"Gideon Malick's daughter studied at Bryn Mawr. I guess she liked the strike one down and two will arise in its place philosophy, even if it doesn't really translate to a sport with a finite number of players allowed to even suit up."

"So, do we know what our mascot is going to be? The Avengers sound like a comic book hero – "

"Screw the pleasantries, you two," Fury interrupted from further inside what turned out to be a very nice hotel suite once Coulson led Maria inside.

"You two will have plenty of time to get to know one another. We've got three days' worth of work to get done in six hours, as I am not meeting Peggy Carter for dinner tonight without a preliminary roster to hand her."

Although Fury looked and sounded sarcastic as well as angry, Maria had found enough footage of him to believe that that was the way he always came off, missing only the usual profanity and, surprisingly, the eye patch he was almost as well known for as he was for using the f-bomb on television. (Broadcasters had both loved and hated Fury, knowing they would get newsworthy sound bites whenever they interviewed him, but never knowing how much of Fury's words they would have to censor.) She didn't stare at the web of scars over his blinded eye, but neither did she ignore giving it a once over. The incident resulting in Fury's career ending injury was still shown on penalty training reels and to see the real consequences was sobering.

Fury was sitting in one of the suite's comfortable looking chairs, but after his own once over of Maria, and apparently being satisfied with how she presented herself, he rose and gestured to the dining table that already held pads and pens for notes, one tablet, and some old-fashioned file folders. A coffee and water service sat there in the middle of the table instead of being on the sideboard where room service would have initially left them. Jackets draped two of the chairs, leaving Maria glad she'd worn a suit herself though, like the men, she shrugged hers off. She hung it on the chair back on the left of what she was certain was Fury's jacket, given it was leather and didn't belong to the rest of the suit Coulson was wearing.

"I was going to go through each team and get your picks, but a couple of things have changed since last night," Fury began with no hello or any other fanfare.

Something Maria found refreshing, as she'd already exhausted what little chit chat she had in her with Coulson.

"But I guess there is something else we should deal with first," Fury continued, taking the seat at the end and turning to look at Maria with a steady and, she could admit, intimidating look. "Whose job are you after here?" he asked her.

"I'm sorry?" she questioned, having to work more to keep any hint of anger out of her voice than surprise.

Nice didn't come to mind in seeing Fury's smile.

"Peggy Carter is one of the shrewdest, most intelligent women I know, and she's a hell of a judge of character. She hired you first, and she wouldn't have hired you at all if she didn't think you could do the job, nor if she didn't have big plans for you sometime in the future. I want to know if your future is fighting for Phil's job or mine. And whether one of us is supposed to mentor you, or if you're here to rein one of us in should the fit not work quite the way Ms. Carter expect. I'll treat you the same way regardless, as long as you stay honest and remember who you are working for, but it would be nice to know if you're supposed to be a successor or a usurper."

Maria knew her own smile was no friendlier than Fury's, but the expression that accompanied it was one she hoped conveyed something of the wry respect she felt in hearing Fury's assessment. She should have asked similar things of Ms. Carter instead of being so damn grateful at being brought up to the NAHL. Hell, she should have asked herself those questions instead of letting herself be blind-sided by Fury. Part of the answer was easy, though. She held Fury's gaze, refusing to sneak a peek over to Coulson for his reaction.

"Ms. Carter signs my paychecks, but I work for the team. As for my future, I'm not looking to go back to coaching at a college, and I'd rather not be sent to the minors, not even as a head coach. Most everyone including the players would see that as a lack of confidence in my abilities, which would negate most of the reasons you or anyone else might have to send me there. If that's what ends up happening though, I'll do it, as long as it will help the team. Eventually I might be tempted into becoming a GM, but right now I think I can offer more as a coach than an administrator, and I know I have a lot to learn before I could consider taking either position. Both of my parents, and two of my brothers are Marines, so honest is the only way I work. I would have joined the Corps myself, but the same injury that took me from the ice also disqualified me from enlisting."

"Good answers. I'm sure we'll revisit this all again, but for now, we've got the damn team to worry about, not each other." Fury broke his gaze and looked down to his pile of files, pulling one out although he didn't give it to either Maria or Coulson. He didn't open it either.

"This morning Ms. Carter made two deals, one of which will go public tomorrow, and both of which are going to impact our decisions this afternoon," Fury said instead. "The first is that she signed our first player. I don't know how she found out, but Odin Blake, the owner of the Tromsø, Norway team of the Swedish Hockey League, is going to trade his younger son, Luke. That, in turn, led his older son, Donald, to declare his free agency as well as an interest in playing hockey over here. So Carter signed Donald, and it's my understanding that Russell made an offer to Luke to play for the Celestials."

Assuming J'Son Russell played true to form, the owner of the Seattle Celestials would have offered as much as the ceiling cap would allow to convince Luke Blake to come to the NAHL. That salary cap existed because of owners like Russell, who's ego was as large as his fortune, and who thought nothing of outbidding any other team if he wanted a player before the cap – sometimes just to keep another team from getting someone who could help them. Maria doubted Carter had paid as much for their Blake, and could only hope the younger brother wouldn't lord things over Donald going into the new season because he'd gone to the statistically best team. Fortunately, the Avengers and Celestials were in different divisions, so the only time they could play each other would be for the Stanley Cup. Considering how far into the future that was likely to be, Maria wouldn't have to worry about sibling rivalry or bad blood between them for some time.

"Our Blake is a hell of a D-man," Fury continued. "With stamina and strength enough that he's on the ice a ridiculous number of minutes. He's also led his team numerous times, and once his league, in scoring by a defensive player. So we're going to need someone who can partner and complement that," Fury concluded, looking at Maria and Coulson expectantly.

"Banner," she and Coulson said at the same time. Coulson then deferred to Maria to give her explanation for the choice first.

"If Blake can play at the same level here in the NAHL, we need someone complimentary, someone who doesn't let the puck get past the blue line, much less into the crease. Frankly, I was surprised to see Banner go unprotected."

"He and Blonsky are more rivals than teammates, plus Banner is dating the owner's daughter," Coulson explained. "Thaddeus Ross _hates_ Banner for that, and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual."

"And Ross thinks New York is far enough away from Philadelphia that it will break them up?" Maria scoffed. "If the road schedule hasn't, a two hour drive up the turnpike won't either."

Coulson shrugged. "Ross is probably thinking Banner would be too busy trying to fit in with a new team to keep up a social life. And it's two hours only on paper. With typical traffic and any whiff of weather or congestion, you can be looking at three or four hours."

"Ross could also be thinking Banner is good trade bait," Maria put out there. "Either to us for someone not in the draft, or that Banner will ask to be traded since the Thunderbolts didn't think enough of him to protect him. The Hellions and Titans both have to be on the market for someone with Banner's skills."

"You two aren't worried about Banner's temper?" Fury asked, his tone and expression turning mild and curious.

"Depends on how much his anger problems stem from his situation with Ross and Blonsky," Coulson answered. "He could just be someone unwilling to take someone else's shit. Anger can be managed, as long as there isn't a discipline problem alongside."

"From what I could see during my research, Banner plays the game clean and solid most of the time," Maria offered. "His triggers seem to be set off by his teammates as much as his opponents. If we take away the teammate and accommodate the girlfriend problem, that would leave us with a hell of a player two thirds of the time, whereas Creed is just fucking psycho, and we'd somehow have to trade for at least one of the Snarts if we wanted to keep Mick Rory properly focused. We'd do better taking Banner, along with Alcaeus Hercules from the Titans, and train up a couple of players from the minors."

Maria frowned as the other two just grinned at her instead of responding to her evaluation. She played back what she'd said in her head, and then felt the blush begin. "Sorry about the language," she apologized. Just because Fury cursed regularly didn't mean he'd appreciate her doing so. "I just don't see how Creed hasn't been given a permanent ban from the League," she added to explain herself.

Coulson shrugged. "Creed's been more in control of himself after his trade to New Orleans; Essex holds a tight leash on all of his players, both on and off the ice. I also think the weather and _laissez faire_ nature of the city suits him better than Montreal," he suggested. "I suspect Essex left him unprotected more as a warning to Creed than because Essex really thought we'd draft Victor. And I agree with her, Boss. Pick Banner and Hercules in the draft, and find a couple more defensive players elsewhere."

Fury's expression didn't give Maria a clue as to whether he agreed with their suggestion. He simply steepled his fingers and sat back in his chair. "So where next? A hard decision or an easy one?"

Coulson gave him a look that seemed part suspicion and part resignation; like he knew Fury was up to something or was, for some reason, laughing at them. "Fuck you, Nick. Just tell us already."

"Easy one it is, then," Fury replied, his shark smile evident again as he went counter to Coulson and Maria's expectations.

"Who is going to be our goaltender?"

If this was an easy one, Maria wasn't sure she was ready to hear the hard pick. Each team had had to leave a goalie unprotected in the draft, and each goalie had had to have been under contract for the upcoming season, but unlike the forwards and defensive players, the goalies did not have to have played in a minimum number of games in the previous season. Some of the available players did have a good number of games under the belt due to injuries to their team's primary goalie, but not one of them would have been a starter for the team willing to let them go. As far as Maria knew, throwing darts at the names to pick the two they were required to draft would be as good a method of choosing them over any other.

Somehow, though, she didn't think that was what Fury meant when he said this was an easy choice.

"I like the look of Kate Bishop," Coulson offered. He was wearing what Maria figured was his form of a game face, which meant he wasn't any more confident of his choice than Maria was.

"She'd be good as back-up," Fury agreed, still giving them nothing.

Okay. Easy, too, would be either the Hydras' unprotected goalie, or the Shields'. Elena Rodriguez, called Yo-Yo by her teammates because of her ability to appear as if she was in two places at the same time, could certainly cover the net. She wasn't that good in keeping her eye on the puck, though, and had the unfortunate stat of having scored three goals against her own team in her four years in the Majors because of it. No doubt she would get better at puck handling, especially if she was given more minutes to play, but the Avengers needed someone good out of the box, being a first year team. They couldn't afford to have too many players they would have to train up if they wanted to get anywhere above the cellar this year.

The one thing Maria had no idea of, was whether Fury was a long-view kind of GM, or someone who felt he had to deliver immediately. And, she, realized, she didn't know which type of staff Peggy Carter was expecting out of them, either.

Rodriguez would be anything but easy.

Which left Mike Peterson out of DC. From what little Maria had been able to observe in team videos, Peterson was a good and steady if unimaginative player. He made all the good saves but he also showed no ability for making a spectacular one, and would never be the kind of player that lifted the rest of his teammates out of a hole.

When Maria looked up from the table, she found the other two giving her identical looks of expectation. She started to bristle, but then also realized they could just as easily be expecting something because she'd been so clearly thinking about the answer, not because they expected her to actually have one.

"Sorry. I can tell you why I don't think some of them would be a good fit, but I just don't know enough about the rest to have an opinion either way. If it were up to me, I'd just throw a dart and see where it sticks."

"Fair enough," Fury gave her. "You sound like you know who you don't want, which also means you know _what_ you don't want. Turn it around and tell me what you think we need instead of worrying about the who."

Okay, that was the easy part. "Give me someone who has the dependability and steady hand of the Guardian's Vince Groot, the spatial awareness and flexibility of the Starling's Sarah Lance, and the explosive unpredictability of the Jokers' Ellie Phimister," Maria responded with little hesitation. "If they also had Jean Gray's puck handling abilities, I wouldn't say no."

Fury nodded. "You can have the first two, and I'll give you three months for you to give me the last two out of him."

Maria sat back. Fury definitely had someone in mind; someone he expected her or Coulson to name, but she had nothing. All of the goalies on their list were bench sitters unless their team's starter couldn't play for some reason. There just wasn't enough to go on from players like that, unless you went back to their days in the Minors, or maybe college.

Fortunately, it was only as Fury turned his stare from her to Coulson that he looked disappointed.

"Cheese, I'm surprised and saddened by you. Get rid of your bias against the flyover cities that aren't in Canada, and look over the names again."

Dying to know both the story behind a nickname of Cheese, as well as what Coulson had against the American mid-west, Maria still kept her tongue and instead reached for her own pad and did a quick sort on the unprotected goalies from the Northern and Southern conference teams. While she still didn't expect anyone to jump out to her (and they didn't), Fury definitely expected just that from Coulson. And this time it looked like he wasn't going to be disappointed, as Coulson suddenly gave a chuckle and a shake of his head.

"Fine, I'll cop to the bias, and to needing some readers, but it was an honest mistake," Coulson defended himself. "I gave Tiboldt credit for having some grasp on his team's future. Any halfway competent GM or Head Coach would have protected Clint, not Barney."

Maria looked again at her list, finding Tiboldt first, who was both the GM and the Head Coach of the Chicago Wonders. The only Clint listed as available indeed had a G after his name, but she expanded out the Wonders' roster and found a Barney with the same last name: Barton. Looking further into Barney the goalie named Barton hadn't made an impression on her, she couldn't help the frown of distaste over what she was reading, and thought Coulson was probably right about Tiboldt being less than competent in either of his positions in his organization. Barney Barton's only claim to fame and his starting defensive position was his penalty minutes, which meant Tiboldt used him as an Enforcer, a position definitely no longer considered kosher with the full integration of women in the League some twenty years back.

As far as Maria was concerned, players whose main job was to protect their star teammates and to punish their opponents for imagined or even real smacks should never have had a place in hockey. Not just when only men played; not even before Wakanda Industries had turned the game on its head by inventing undergear that could absorb and disburse impacts like Kevlar body armor, thus eliminating half of the weight and nearly all of the serious injuries for the players. The game was about speed, maneuverability, and precision now, not who could hit the hardest, or fights.

"So Clint Barton is good?" Maria asked.

"Go find video of the Budapest Olympics, specifically the elimination rounds," Fury advised her. "Clint got onto that team through the Junior League, not through the NCAA, and should have been able to write his own ticket after we took the gold, thanks in a large part to him. He could have gotten a free ride to any college or university the following year. But he wanted to follow his brother. Which he did, including using Barney's horrible agent and agreeing to a no-trade clause as long as his brother is with the Wonders. Anywhere else and he'd have been a starter within in his first few years, and probably an All-Star of the likes of Grey or Amaquelin by now."

 "Ten years as a back-up goalie is a long time," Maria felt she had to point out; to remind even Fury that lots of players never lived up to their potential.

Coulson was the one to defend Barton this time. "He was fifteen in Budapest; had to have a special waiver to play on his Tier 1 team in the Juniors, and then for us. Twenty-six isn't that old, especially for a goalie. Go back and look at his Goals Saved Above Average percentage. It doesn't show in his Shut Outs, since he doesn't normally stay long enough in the game, but if you isolate his minutes from Chisolm's, it's been up there with the highest in the League. He used to be called Hawkeye, as he _always_ knows where the puck is."

Coulson abruptly turned to Fury. "We should bring in Melinda May to work with Barton. She'll get him to where we need him."

"Do you really think you can pry her away from Calgary?" Fury asked, his voice full of skepticism. "That she'd trade being Scouting Director to come back as a Goaltending Coach?"

"Well, she won't if one of us doesn't ask her," Coulson responded.

"Fine. You ask her. I'll say yes if she does. If only all of our problems were so easy." Fury sounded a little too smug; Coulson too impassioned to see the first trap was really just a feint.

"There is nothing about Melinda that is easy, but if she was, she wouldn't be worth it."

"Remember you said that, Phil."

"Hey, Melinda likes me. And she's got to have gotten bored being so far from the ice –"

"I'm not talking about May. You seemed to have forgotten we're not done, and that there is still the hard pick ahead of us."

"That second deal Ms. Carter made," Coulson said after a tick, sending a worried look Maria's way when Fury returned to looking smug.

Fury just nodded.

"Can it be any worse than coaching Brock Rumlow?"

"You tell me, Cheese. You tell me." Fury then paused, for dramatic affect no doubt, but at least he included Maria in his look to see if she and Coulson were going to make any guesses.

When neither of them filled the silence, Fury seemed satisfied. "In exchange for us picking Walters or Von Doom and _not_ choosing Grimm or Radd, Obadiah Stane will trade us their second round draft pick for this as well as next year's – along with Stark. Carter said yes."

"Tony Stark?"

Coulson didn't just sound incredulous, but horrified. Maria didn't understand. Well, no, maybe she did.

"Given he's one of the Superstars' top scorers, that makes no sense unless he, too, is sleeping with someone he shouldn't be, or something worse," Maria couldn't help saying. "What's Stark's problem?"

"You mean our problem." Now Coulson's tone sounded shaded by pity, and Maria didn't think it was aimed at Stark.

"Just a college coach," Maria pointed to herself, reminding him. Them. "I don't have any of your insider knowledge. On paper, even Stark's harshest critics seem to think his skills make working with his ego worth it."

Coulson shook his head, not in denial but from amazement, going by his expression. "It's not just ego. He's a full tilt diva, not only determined to make sure everyone knows he earned his starting position and wasn't just given it because of his father, but also that anything dear old dad managed, Tony can do better. Including the partying and drinking. He might not yet be a full blown alcoholic, but he thinks nothing of showing up hungover now and again during Morning Skate."

"At least he shows up," Maria felt she had to point out, not that she had any reason to defend Stark. "A veteran with his stats usually gets exempted."

"Hung over, maybe, but he's never played while drunk," Fury proclaimed, sounding absolutely dead serious. "That was his father's trick. In Tony's quest to outdo his father and shatter his records, that's one line he doesn't cross."

"Fines won't deter him from unacceptable behavior," Phil sounded obligated to point out. "Nor has being dropped down from the top line."

"Ms. Carter seems to think that removing Stark from the team that the man who was practically Stark's _second_ father basically stole from Stark's mother, will give Stark the freedom to finally play up to his full potential."

He might not have bothered to try and copy Peggy Carter's inflections or accent, but Fury also wasn't doing anything to disguise his words as anything other than a direct quote from their team owner. Nor anything to hide that he disagreed with her.

Maria didn't know whether to feel gratified or scared that Fury wasn't worried about making his feelings about the Stark trade known to her. Of course she wasn't going to report back to Carter this small dissension in the ranks, but Fury didn't actually know that.

"She could be right," Coulson said reluctantly. "No one knows the game mechanics better than Stark, and few can equal his raw talent. But he's reckless, and a horrible team player."

Maria frowned and gestured to the files in front of Fury. "So we're going to need to put him in a line with someone who can keep him under control. There are good forwards to choose from, but I didn't see anyone Stark wouldn't just roll over."

Coulson's expression turned thoughtful. "We need to pick someone Dallas really needs like T'Naga Martinex, who's available from the Guardians, then get them to trade us James Rhodes for Martinex and one of those Superstar future draft picks. Rhodey and Stark were drafted in the same year, played on the same lines while being groomed on the Marvels' Minor League affiliate, and roomed together for those first three years. Even if Rhodes doesn't really like Stark, he obviously knows how to deal with him. We let Rhodes be the playmaker and move him to Center and Stark to Right Wing. We'd just need to find a good sniper who is also a power forward for Left."

"Will Stark accept not playing Center?" If everything they were staying about Stark was true, Maria couldn't think how he would. "Forcing him out of the spotlight may only give us an unhappy player, who then fosters anxiety and disgruntlement in some of the others."

"I'd like to be able to say no matter what else, Stark is a professional, and someone who knows his legacy is tied to how well his team does, not just his own stats. But it's not like anyone is going to expect us to do anything with the team this first year – "

"If you're not here to win, Cheese," Fury interrupted with some mild heat, but then backed down from the absolutely scathing look Coulson shot him.

It was going to take some doing to break through that kind of familiarity. Maria thought she'd be able to, in time, but also knew she would grow impatient if Coulson and Fury even involuntarily shut her out too often, with their nicknames and communicating without speaking. So, if she was going to take a few risks to show them she was worth including, she might as well start now.

"What if we switch Stark between lines on a regular basis? Let him play Center and Right Wing?" she proposed.

"You're the one who's concerned Stark's unhappiness might affect his teammates," Coulson reminded her, his tone mildly mocking. "Now you're proposing to guarantee Stark's discontent?"

Maria couldn't prevent the blush she could feel heating her face, but she didn't back down. "Let him play Center on the fourth line every couple of games, with someone you ask him to mentor like that Parker kid the Chimeras' brought up in the last week of last season. Obviously Parker's not going to get much ice time in Phoenix this year; he's a rookie and they've got Raine Sinclair back. But there was a reason the Chimeras drafted him in their first round and he could end up being pretty good in a couple of years."

"That's a hell of an idea, Hill," Fury acknowledged. "Making Stark directly responsible for someone else's future would be another way of keeping him in check, whether we get Rhodes or not."

Coulson started tapping on his tablet. "As long as you're accepting unconventional ideas, boss, I have one too," he offered while still typing, though he soon stopped and looked up.

Fury spread his hands, which Maria guessed meant _be my guest_ , even if Fury's expression was saying _it better not waste his time_.

"If we do get Rhodes, move him to anchor the second line and give him Jarvis from Seattle, and Tripp – Antoine Triplett," Coulson elaborated -- for Maria's benefit since Triplett had played directly under Fury.

Triplett looked solid enough on film and paper, as did Paul Jarvis from the Celestials. Such a proposal did nothing about the Stark problem, however.

Coulson, unsurprisingly, wasn't done.

"We still keep with Hill's plan for Stark, draft Wilson from San Francisco to take Right Wing when Stark shifts to the fourth line, and bring Bucky Barnes over from the Hydras to play Left Wing on the first line."

"I thought Barnes' inclusion in the expansion draft was just Pierce and Garrett's way of releasing someone they no longer thought could play," Maria protested. "Of course, you know your former team the best," she temporized in the face of a mildly curious expression, "but is Barnes really _our_ best pick? I was thinking Mallory Aida – "

"Aida has too many of Stark's flaws, without the same level of skill," Coulson said flatly. "If you're really set on her, she's going to be yours to temper, and I wish you luck."

Maria frowned; Coulson seemed dead serious. Maria knew she could handle a diva – even two of them if it came down to it – but she was already going to have to step up her game and make a lot of adjustments, so maybe she didn't want to add professional brat-wrangling to her skill set quite this soon.

"Okay, so maybe we draft Barnes from the Hydra," she conceded. "But do you really think he's up to playing first line?"

The smile Coulson bestowed on her proved that he and Fury were cut from the same cloth, at least some of the time. Like his friendly smile, this one also disappeared the accountant, and instead showed her he _could_ be intimidating enough to be a head coach. If Fury was the shark that ruled the ocean, Coulson was the wolf that guarded the door.

"Pierce and Garrett each have the same fatal flaws when it comes to rating players," Coulson told her, his eyes lit with an inner glow that most likely came from being able to finally unload on his former bosses.

"They judge everyone based on their own traits and personalities. So, they see brown-nosing as loyalty and their injured as deadweight. Plus, they prefer players they can bully and mold over independent thinkers," Coulson added with a wry smile. "Because neither of them have the fortitude and willingness to put in the kind of effort it would take to come back from the type of damage Barnes sustained in the accident, they don't believe anyone else does either. Barnes might not be _all_ back mentally, but he passed his physical and, like Stark, I think if he's given the right environment and responsibilities, he can get himself back to being a top player again."

"He's your sniper, even though he's always been a power forward before," Maria guessed.

Coulson nodded. "He always had the potential. Garrett just never saw the need. And never will, in part because Barnes' injury gave him the opportunity to promote his protégé, Grant Ward."

From his tone of derision, it was obvious that Coulson didn't think Ward was good enough for the first line, though maybe it was just that he thought Barnes deserved it more or that Ward hadn't _earned_ it yet; from what she'd seen Ward was pretty good, if a bit of a maverick. He was also several years younger than Barnes, the kind of player that many GMs would look to build a franchise around. Maria had come into this knowing that Coulson (and Fury), would have his own favorites, but she hadn't really thought to worry about countering their biases. Damn, but she had a lot more research to do if she was going pull her weight.

"Trust me," Coulson requested, not just of her, but to Fury, too.

"Barnes just needs to be somewhere new, where his teammates have few expectations of how he _should_ play and instead pay attention to how he _is_ playing. He's had to become a smarter player, a more precise one, and he's a better for it. He also isn't gun shy, isn't afraid to still mix it up on the boards."

"That still leaves us with a need for a Center that Stark will listen to," Fury responded, keeping his own opinions on draft picks to himself even now. "No matter how good Parker may turn out to be, Stark won't stay on the fourth line for a month, much less a season. So, you got another Rhodes that I'm magically supposed convince someone to trade to me?" he challenged Coulson.

Even Fury seemed surprised by Coulson's sudden blush, but then his expression turned into resigned suspicion while Coulson looked and sounded more excited than smug.

"Garrett wasn't interested in having Barnes regularly practice with the team, so Jasper and I introduced him to the Head Coach of the Aviators, since Barnes chose to do his final rehab here in New York instead of DC. Dugan couldn't really let him use their ice, since they're New England's affiliate, so instead, he convinced Brooklyn College to let a few of his players and Barnes do some scrimmages against the students. Did you know that news of Barnes' accident got a lot more play outside of the US than probably Pierce would be happy to hear about, given how he's basically throwing Barnes away?" Phil suddenly asked, seemingly changing the subject

Fury just raised a brow. Maria gave no response, since the question obviously hadn't been directed at her.

"Even the troops over in Kandahar and Baghdad heard about it."

Fury rocked back in his seat before Coulson finished his obviously not so much a non sequitur, though Maria was damned if she knew what Coulson was alluding to. Even including the times his temper had gotten the best of him during the losing games she'd watched to get a better idea of who she'd been dealing with, Maria had never seen Fury display as much emotion as when "You are fucking shitting me!" escaped from his lips.

In return, Coulson now sounded absolutely giddy. "He resigned his commission to come back and help with Barnes' recovery. He's been acting as Barnes' trainer, and has joined in the pickup games over the last couple of months. It's been 7 years, but he hasn't lost a step."

Fury got a gleam in his eye that Maria thought she should probably be afraid of, but Coulson's contagious excitement was in danger of morphing into resentment of how much she was being excluded. Had she thought it intentional – that the two of them even remembered she was in the room with them – she wouldn't have worked so hard to keep her tone curbed when she asked:

"Who hasn't lost his step?"

With a laugh as he tore his gaze from Coulson's to acknowledge her, Fury looked like Santa had just delivered him the Stanley Cup and it was filled with chocolate – or more likely beer, in his case.

"Steven Motherfucking Rogers," he told her, his own form of giddy exhibiting as extreme satisfaction. "The best damn player I ever had the privilege of coaching."

Maria frantically wracked through the lineups she'd memorized prior to this meeting. There had been no Rogers on the expansion draft list, nor on any roster of the Shields or the Hydras in the last ten years –

No. Not ten years. Seven.

Seven would fit with the St. Petersburg Winter Olympics. The second and last one Coulson had worked as Fury's assistant coach, as the Hydras had refused to give Coulson leave for the following Olympics. From what Maria could remember of St. Petersburg, the US had won bronze, despite not having any A-List NAHL players in their ranks. Most of the credit for the team medaling had been attributed to a previously unknown player, a Fine Arts major from an unlikely college to have a world class hockey player, Hunter College in New York City.

Everyone had speculated that coming out of those Olympics, Steven Grant Rogers would be named number one in the next year's NAHL draft. Rogers had been called the second coming of Howard Stark; many had thought that Rogers would be the one destined to break all of Howard's records, not Howard's own son, who'd been drafted by the NAHL three years previous. Only Rogers had let himself be drafted by another league – by the US Army – after deciding he needed to do his part fighting terrorists like the Ten Rings.

If Coulson and Fury really thought they could convince Carter that Rogers could still play after so many years out of the game; that they could then convince Rogers to take up the mantle and job that everyone had wanted to give to him those same seven years ago, the Avengers just might have a team. If Stark and Rogers didn't kill each other first.

**Now:**

_"You say you have opinions, Carol. I'm sure everyone wants to hear them. But before we get to what you think of the players for the Avengers, tell me which team do you really think is going to win? The scrappy underdogs, or the Goliath of our sport for the last fifteen to twenty years. "_

_"I'm a sucker for the underdog, but good wishes and heartfelt prayers don't always get answered the way you expect, Rick. I think the Avengers could win tonight, if they can manage to find their game again and execute it. Unfortunately, even though they've fought back to tie up the series three times, the Celestials have been running their own game with a lot more success, a game the Avengers don't seem to be able to defend against. I'm not even sure Hollywood could produce a credible Avenger win going with how both teams have played in this series. The Avengers might have made their wins look easy during the playoffs but, frankly, they've looked like amateurs while facing Seattle."_

_"I can't say that your read is wrong, Carol. If ever there has been a team to challenge the old New York Marvels for the title of best NAHL team ever, it would be Josh Thanos' Seattle Celestials. I mean, even their name makes them sound like they should be playing in the God League or something, not the NAHL. Still, I'll admit that I'm a romantic as well as an optimist. And that I'm not sure Hollywood has ever made a_ credible _sports movie. Hasn't stopped me from enjoying them, though."_

_"Well, whether this season someday becomes a movie or not, Rick, the ending – win or lose – won't take away from what the Avengers have accomplished in this last year, I was fortunate in that I only changed teams once in my career, moving from the Shields to the Novas. I can't even imagine what it was like the first day for that initial roster for the Avengers, coming to a team where no one had played with any of their teammates before. The closest experience would be making the team for the Olympics, but no more than a handful of these Avengers did that either. At least with the All-Star game, you generally aren't the only one from your team who gets picked. Add in all the disparate personalities and styles of play with no hint from a previous year of what the coaches wanted …"_

_"Didn't Bruce Banner say something about it in one of his first interviews, Carol?_ 'We aren't a team. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time-bomb.' _"_

 _"Yeah, I remember something like that. I also remember Fury responding with_ 'The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more'. _And that, Rick, my friend, will never be in dispute."_

**Then:**

"Here, Buck, let me help."

Bucky bristled at Steve's words. He couldn't help it; after close to seventeen months of needing help for nearly everything, and then finally – finally – having his arm respond like it should instead of just being an unresponsive, limp mess, it was hard to go back to needing help for something as simple as getting undressed. Only getting out of his undergear was not simple, and he wasn't going to be able to do it alone, no matter how much he wanted to be able to.

It was also Steve who was offering. His best damn friend since grade school. There wasn't anything they hadn't done for each other in the intervening years, which meant if Bucky told him no now, Steve would simply insist, and make a bigger deal than it probably was.

It wasn't like he was going to be able to avoid letting the other players seeing the scar tissue that ran from shoulder to elbow at some point. If you couldn't stand baring your metaphysical or physical junk, only the armed services were worse than professional sports for oversharing and, actually, Bucky thought sports had the military beat, from the moment woman sportscasters were granted access to the men's locker room.

"Holy shit, Barnes," Tripp exclaimed when he freed his head from his jersey and caught sight of the scars as Steve helped Bucky peel back the sleeves of his futuristic body armor-like gear.

"I knew you were a tough, scary motherfucker, but damn! You are a bona fide, grade A badass to be able to come back from that."

Tripp wasn't bothering to keep either his volume or his admiration quiet, so of course, everyone else turned to look. Bucky couldn't help the red that started to creep up his neck, and could only be thankful he wasn't a full body blusher.

"So what," Barton said from over where he and Bishop were taking turns helping each other out of the skin-tight under-uniform before she disappeared behind one of the partitions to finish getting undressed before her shower. "We've all got scars, even our genuine _superstar._ " Barton tossed one of his pads at Stark at that point, hitting Stark squarely in the back of head.

Stark's squawk of, "The fuck, Barton!"  led to him skimming one of his own pads back toward Barton, diverting attention from Bucky. Especially when Barton grabbed up his stick and blocked Stark's soaked elbow pad as if he was in the crease and it was the puck, even going so far as to then loft the pad toward the Swedish – no, Norwegian – import some of the guys had started calling Thor.

"You will have to do better than that," Blake admonished with a wide smile as he used his own stick to slap the pad toward the kid, Parker. Parker yelped and smacked it away without aiming, only to have it sail to the door that was just opening. It struck Coach Hill on the side of her face.

Hill clenched her jaw, bent over to gingerly pick it up between the tips of two fingers, and then marched it back to Stark, since it was his name Sharpied on it.

"I see Mr. Parker needs extra stick drills tomorrow. Since he won't want that to disrupt any appointments or plans the rest of you might have made, nor interfere with the arena's morning class schedule, I'll see all of you on the ice at 5:30 instead of 6:00. As for this morning, you've got forty-five to soak, ice up, or do whatever you need to get yourself back on your feet and out into the stands. We just got our pre-season schedule and Coulson has some words to say about what we're going to do to try and get you ready. I do not recommend you be late."

Having delivered her orders, Hill then spun around and marched right back out of locker room.

"Goodness," the female Maximoff said, finally breaking the stunned silence that had descended. "And I thought Harness was a tough, humorless coach," she said to her twin, though she didn't bother to keep her voice down.

"Actually, I think that was a display of her humor," said Carter.

Bucky watched as Steve's head came up at the sound of her voice. Not interested in her, his ass. Steve hadn't been able to take his eyes off her since they'd met, though only when he thought no one else would notice. Leave it to him to take a shine to the owner's niece.

'Course, Banner was pulling something like that too, Bucky recalled, at least according to rumors. If the latter was true, it should be easier now on the guy, not having old Thunderbolt Ross signing Banner's checks anymore.

"So she was joking about changing to the five thirty ice call tomorrow morning?" the guy Bucky was pretty sure was either Monroe or Whitman asked.

"Show up at six and find out," Wilson crowed, which led to a series of pads and even a couple of broken mouth pieces being tossed back at not only at the questioner, but toward Parker too.

"Shit, guys, I'm sor –," Parker started before Stark suddenly put his hand over Parker's mouth to stop him.

"Do not apologize for something that would have happened anyway," Stark admonished him. "Coachella de Ice would have done the same thing just from seeing Barton's jock is purple instead of – "

"Stop staring at my cock, Stark," Barton growled, though he was preening a little, because of course now everyone looked over to see if Stark was right.

Stark was, Bucky noted, along with noticing that Barton was nicely hung. It was Barton's own scars that really caught Bucky's attention, however, before he adverted his eyes. Not that scars were uncommon on a goalie's body – even on their back, but as Barton turned back to his locker, Bucky knew a couple of them hadn't come from hockey. Cigarette burns were obvious, at least to someone who had seen them before (because Steve hadn't known how to back down, even from the neighborhood bully who'd had five years, five inches and at least fifty pounds on a ten-year old, scrawny Steve though he'd only gotten burned once before Bucky had gotten there and the two of them had taken down the freshman). So was a scar from getting tangled up in barbed wire; a scar Bucky had himself from getting tangled up while sneaking into a junk yard so many years ago. (He'd been damn lucky he didn't have a dog bite to go with that scar.)

Looking at Barton again, Bucky began to wonder if Barton's redirection of the attention off of Bucky had been intentional. Away from Parker too. Maybe.

Goalies were often characterized as being as protective of their teammates as they were of the goal, not that Bucky had experienced such a thing while with the Hydras. Of course, Barton could also just be a guy who liked to be the center of attention, something that was going to be fought over against the likes of Stark and even Blake, who was just so big and seemed so cheerful and boisterous.

Bucky decided it might be worthwhile to discover what it was for Barton, or to see if it had merely been an odd coincidence – and Bucky's own conditioning, since Steve normally played the peacemaker. It wasn't like keeping an eye on Barton was going to be any great hardship. Metaphorically speaking.

**Now:**

_"We've got just a few minutes left, Carol, so let's talk about matchups. Defensively during these finals, Blake and Banner haven't played to the level they turned in the rest of the season, constantly being behind the Celestials' forwards. Whitman and Monroe have played worse, with most of Seattle's goals scored through them. Frankly, none of the Avengers are playing particularly well, certainly not like they have been in the past. Is it them, or are the Celestials just that much better?"_

_"I'd say it's a little of both, Rick, but I think you're selling a couple of players short. Barnes and Romanoff had a fine post season, even in the finals. Romanoff is leading the Avengers in shots on goal, while Barnes' shooting percentage at fifteen point four is well above League average. Rogers, too, has been the playmaker they need him to be, turning in respectable numbers all across the board. But I agree that the defensemen have been outplayed all the way around. Jarvis and Stark aren't producing to even their own averages and definitely not with what the Avengers need. The Avengers also aren't getting the crucial shots from Parker or either Maximoff, all three of who had really stepped up during the playoffs, and helped make some of the games blowouts, like Game three against Charles Xavier's Westchester Extraordinaires, or Game two against Daisy Johnson and the Orlando Mists."_

_"I suppose we can say that Barton has been steady, too, Carol. Certainly none of the Avenger losses have been blowouts. But as you said earlier, the Celestials are calling the game and making the Avengers react and play defensively overall, instead of taking charge. Even during the Avengers' wins in these finals, most of the games were played out in the Avengers' defensive zone and if that happens again tonight, the Cup is going home with the Celestials for the tenth time in sixteen years."_

_"If the Avengers can't find their own game tonight, then the Celestials will deserve their win, Rick. At least it's likely that the game will be worth watching, that – "_

_"Sorry to interrupt, Carol, but I've just been told that Peggy Carter and the Avengers have a special presentation taking place before the anthem. We're cutting away to the Voice of the Avengers, Edwin Jarvis."_

_Good evening everyone, and welcome here to the Strategic Scientific Reserve Arena. On behalf of the entire Manhattan Avengers organization, we want to thank you for joining us here for Game seven of the Stanley Cup finals. P_ _lease welcome your Manhattan Avengers and the visiting Seattle Celestials on to the ice for tonight's special presentation._

_On January seventh, Antoine Triplett was struck by a drunk driver in an accident that ended his NAHL playing career. It's been a long, and at times discouraging recovery as he has had to relearn basic skills the rest of us take for granted, but his drive never waned. Nor has his spirit for serving and helping others been diminished. An inspiration to us all, please welcome the first and only Number 22 for the Manhattan Avengers, Antoine 'Tripp' Triplett onto the ice, accompanied by Owner Peggy Carter and General Manager Nick Fury._

_While Tripp's position with the Avengers has moved to the front office, he has not left the ice behind. Despite losing his legs, Tripp still skates and has recently begun competing again in the sport of sled hockey. No doubt we will be seeing Tripp share his talents in the next World Para-games._

_To help Tripp and other disabled players achieve such a goal, Avengers owner Peggy Carter is here to present a check from the Avengers Foundation._

_"Antoine, you exemplify the character and heart of what I hoped to attain with the Avengers. In addition to the $25,000 the Avengers Foundation has raised, I have two additional matching $25,000 checks, one from myself and one from your teammates to help you establish the newest affiliate of the Avengers, the Brooklyn Scrappers Sled Hockey team. Thank you, young man. Your bravery and enthusiasm, as well as your work both on and off the ice, has made your community, your team—and me – very proud."_

**Then:**

Phil threw his jacket toward the back of one of the chairs at his dining table. It missed and ended up on the floor, but he didn't bother to pick it up. The disorder was emblematic of his thoughts right now; the effort too much to bother. What Phil wanted to do instead was pour a drink. He knew, however, that drinking because he needed one was the worst time to take one. Thinking he _deserved_ a drink led only to madness, and he didn't even need Tony Stark or, more so, Tony's father as an example. If he wasn't drinking to enjoy the taste, his problem would still be there come the morning, only then he'd have to deal with it through a hangover. Ice cream, he supposed, wasn't quite the same kind of escape. Jasper had certainly sworn by it, and it wasn't like he didn't work off any and all empty calories daily on the ice.

Of course, to eat ice cream, he'd need to have ice cream. Only he didn't, not because the day's highs had been subfreezing for the last week here in New York, but because the team had only returned home late last night after a five game, thirteen-day road trip. There was next to nothing in either Phil's freezer or his fridge. He'd intended to go shopping well before this late hour, but getting word that Tripp had to go back into surgery, this time to remove both of his legs, had dictated a different agenda for the day.

He, Nick and Maria had traded off spending the day at the hospital; two of them always sitting vigil while whichever one of them spent the 'break' time dealing with the press, the front office, and everything else necessary, including setting up nursing, rehab, and construction arrangements for when Tripp was well enough to need them. The team would have stayed there at the hospital too, but Maria had put paid to that immediately, forcing them to construct a schedule and only allowing two at a time, for no more than two hours at a time, lest they disrupt the hospital's functioning – or their own mental wellbeing. It wasn't like any of them would have been allowed to see Tripp; not Nick, not even Peggy. Having no surviving family members, Tripp had made Manhattan his home and the team his family, an honor his teammates had taken to heart but the hospital could not.

They were all family, not just Tripp's, but Phil's (and Nick's), which was why this hurt so much.

The knock, when it came, didn't surprise Phil. He wasn't even all that surprised to see Bucky on the other side of his door; Bucky had had his own injury that had nearly taken him out of the game, and now had no love for hospitals even if he had had a much more favorable outcome. Bucky hadn't hesitated in taking his rotation today, however, even if he had spent as much time in the children's ward as he had in the waiting room during Tripp's surgeries. So having Bucky show up needing to talk to Phil made sense, even with Bucky having his best friend back in his life. Steve hadn't been there when Bucky had first been injured, but as one of the Hydras' assistant coaches, Phil had.

That it was Clint standing right next to Bucky instead of Steve threw Phil a little off his game.

"I know the timing is crap, sir, but – "

"I wasn't expecting to sleep anytime soon, Barton, don't worry about it. How can I – "

"Yeah, not that timing, Coulson," Bucky interrupted, looking sheepish but also resolute as he raised his chin. "Even before today, we knew we weren't getting Tripp back. Wade isn't cutting it, though, no matter how much he wants and tries to fit in. He needs to go, if we're going to stand any chance of keeping our momentum going."

Phil shifted to lean against his doorframe. This wasn't really a discussion to have in the hallway, not that Phil's neighbors didn't take any chance to offer their own two cents on how the team should be coached, but given that his players gave no indication or move that they wanted to come in, Phil was willing to hear them out where they were for a few more moments.

"Trading Wade Wilson puts us right back where we were when we first lost Tripp," he reminded them. "Pietro still isn't at one hundred percent to be recalled up from the Commandos, and Heather Douglas isn't ready to play on our level, whether she thinks differently or not. Wade was the only forward we could realistically trade for, something that hasn't changed in two weeks. Wade could still – "

It was Clint's turn to interrupt. "Realistically, sir, Wade really won't. He's good, maybe even great, and no one disputes that he's absolutely fearless against the boards, but he's never going to mesh with our lines. That's all beside the point," Clint added, with a pointed look toward Bucky. "Whether you trade him or don't, the Avengers still have an opening on the roster with Tripp out. Bucky and I stopped by to tell you that we've found someone to fill _that_ opening."

Phil didn't bother keeping the bemusement from his expression. Such a forward gesture could account for how twitchy the both of them were; while players weren't discouraged from offering opinions on who might or might not be good additions to the team, they weren't scouts and they had no business talking to a player on another team, even if they were just encouraging someone to ask to be traded. Poaching just wasn't done.

Feeling his bemusement turning into anger, Phil started to shut the door. Tonight was not the night to deal with this. "We have top-notch scouts in our organization, gentlemen. We don't need – "

Phil was interrupted for a third time. "Do not blame the _mal'chikov,_ _tovarishch_ ," he heard, from a woman apparently standing _behind_ the other two. "I was the one who approached them."

An absolutely stunning looking redhead slid between Bucky and Clint to stand in between them. Wearing what looked like ballet flats and with both men in boots, she was a good seven or eight inches shorter than her companions. That wasn't enough that she should have been completely invisible behind Bucky and Clint, but hell, Phil was tired, and she could have been actively hiding.

"Have we met?" he asked. She looked familiar, but only remotely; not like someone Phil might have met years before, but perhaps someone he might have seen or even studied.

"In passing, during the years you coached with Fury at the Olympics. I belonged to the Russian Federation team. Natalia Alianovna Romanova," she introduced herself, offering a hand and a firm handshake when Phil responded with his own hand.

"I go by Natasha Romanoff now. When I tired of being owned by masters, I came to US and joined your Ice Carnivàle. But I would very much like to return to ice hockey."

"Ice skating and ice hockey are two very different skill sets," Phil found himself saying on automatic, while most of his brain was engaged in replaying his trip to the Olympics. Russia had been eliminated early that Olympiad; the US team hadn't played against them that year. But they had during the Olympiad before, Phil recalled, which could account for Clint knowing her. Or perhaps she had known Bucky, from when he'd played two years for the Euro League before the Hydras had drafted him and brought him back to the States.

"Initially, I was supposed to become prima ballerina," she said simply, though her expression turned wry when she lifted her hand and made a gesture across her chest. "I was fortunate that I did not have to have breasts removed when they came in. I was given opportunity to try out for ice hockey instead, and that became that. I still use ballet to maintain flexibility, so transition not so hard going back. It easier to find job dancing on ice when I come here, but now is opportunity to change once more. If you are willing to give me chance and show you what I can do?"

God, but Nick would kill him, and the papers would crucify him if it didn't work out. He'd already been laughed at (at best), for championing two players who'd been thought never to play hockey again; going after three just might well push his luck. On the other hand, if she could still play, Romanoff would be a hell of an asset, assuming he was remembering the right player from those two Olympiads.

"You will have to show a lot of people what you can do, Ms. Romanoff, but I will give you your time on the ice. Will you be available tomorrow, after the morning skate, at ten?"

She nodded, and stuck her hand out again for another shake. "A fair trial is all I ask for. Thank you, Coach Coulson."

Phil nodded in acknowledgement. "I expect the two of you to be there for morning skate. And for Ms. Romanoff's tryout afterward," he then directed to the idiots who stood there beaming, as if they really had had anything to do with Ms. Romanoff's skill or Phil's acceptance. "So you had better get out of here and get some rest. All three of you."

At least Phil didn't think he'd have to worry about that rest fostering some kind of jealousy or rivalry. It was looking a lot more like Bucky and Clint would be the ones hooking up together, than Ms. Romanoff with one or the other. If he was wrong, or it ended up being all three of them in bed, well, that's what an assistant coach was there for, going by his own experience with DC. Of course, considering Garrett hadn't kicked Ward's ass to the curb _yet_ , the Hydras' head coach still didn't know Ward was also sleeping with Palamas.

**Now:**

_"So, Carol, final thoughts before the puck drop?"_

_"There is no place I'd rather be tonight, than here, with some great seats. But if you are looking for something profound, Rick, I would tell the Celestials: you know how to do this, know what works and what doesn't within the framework of your players. Keep it up, but don't get so caught up in your routines and your successes that you forget how to be flexible. Routines are the easiest thing to exploit, and the Avengers have come back after every loss all season long. Now, to the Avengers I'd say: stop worrying about how the Celestials are playing and go back to playing the game that brought you here. You started out, maybe not as a laughingstock, but certainly as misfits and individuals. Over the season, you became a hell of a team, became something like a family, and few other teams have accomplished that so quickly. You owe nothing to anyone except maybe each other. Hold onto that, and let the rest of it go. You've already given notice and proven that you belong here. So just enjoy yourselves and play."_

_"Carol Danvers, everybody. One of the greatest to ever play the game, a genuine star on and off the ice. I've been Rick Jones. We'll be back after the first period with a recap and highlights, and maybe a few more words of wisdom. Or a movie rec or two. But for now, we turn it back over to Edwin Jarvis, the Voice of the Avengers._ "

**Then:**

Coming out of the shower and back into the locker room long after the rest of his team, Clint saw that most everyone had already headed out. Only Stark was still there, wearing nothing but a towel while he typed away at something on a pad with an intent expression on his face and an air about him implying he'd actually forgotten he wasn't dressed. Bucky was also lingering, fully dressed but suddenly leaning over to adjust a shoe and not so incidentally offering Clint a great view of his ass. A view that Clint ogled appreciatively, from the fussing through the moment Bucky cleared the door heading out to the parking lot. He looked forward to showing Bucky his appreciation –

"Not discreet, Birdbrain," Stark said, proving he wasn't quite as involved with his computer as he appeared. "And hold on a minute!"

Stark's 'sotto voice' wasn't any more discreet than Clint's gaze. Not that it mattered as it was now just the two of them in the locker room, not counting May who was still in one of the shower bays. She'd been the reason Clint had stayed longer on the ice. Well, actually, the reason had been the concussion he'd just been cleared from; the two of them doing some extra drills to make sure Clint was more than _clinically_ ready for tomorrow night's game.

Clint raised his brow when Stark finally looked up and over his direction.

"I thought you and Red were banging skates together," Stark said in all seriousness.

Clint couldn't hold back a bark of laughter. "Oh, God, Stark!" he choked out as he opened his locker to get his clothes. "Please repeat that in front of Tasha when I'm around. Pretty please!"

"Which part?" was Stark's acerbic response; not one for being laughed at, though from the smile that began to tease around his lips, at least he seemed to realize Clint wasn't laughing at him so much as at the absurdity of what he'd said.

"Call her Red or imply that the two of you are together?"

"Either, both." Clint started to dress, still chuckling. "Do you really want to be lumped in with the kind of guys who call her Red?" he asked over his shoulder, amused to see that Stark was back nose deep in whatever was on his screen. "As for saying she's banging skates together with _anyone_ – that will likely have her handing you your balls."

"Yes, well, it's not like there are any other obvious nicknames for her that won't get me just as mangled. She's just as tetchy if someone other than you or Barnes calls her Nat or Tasha …" Stark trailed off for a moment before looking up again and giving Clint one of his dissecting looks.

"Oh, you're good," he acknowledged abruptly, his tone colored by admiration. "Distracting me with threats and nicknames. But not good enough, Buttercup," he spoke, beginning to get into his own locker and clothes. "Inquiring minds want to know. Are you tapping the lovely Natasha, or the Buckster?"

Clint turned around to face Stark, brow raised. "It can't be both?"

"Sure, if it's at the same time," Stark said with a nod. "You are definitely not the type to acknowledge one and have another on the sly. I still have to say nay, though, since you wouldn't have the stamina to do both and still mind the crease as well as you do. I suppose you _could_ be a freak, but you'll never be able to keep it up. Trust me. Your body will eventually give."

"So sayeth a man with experience and, no, I don't want to know," Clint warned him off since Stark liked to overshare. "You're wrong, anyway," he had to add, buttoning his shirt and offering Stark a big grin. "If you're with the right person – or persons – you feel buoyed, not drained. Someone isn't doing it right."

"Someone did it just fine, thank you very much," Stark responded with a defensive sniff and raised chin before turning back to face his locker.

Too damn predictable, but then that's what made baiting Stark so much fun.

"I just happened to have found the love of my life in Pepper," Stark continued, his defensiveness dissolving into something that sounded like genuine pleasure.

Of course, the uncommon softness of Stark's words could have just been because they'd been muffled from Stark pulling a sweater on over his shirt.

"So I don't need two inferior models when I have the best single one," Stark finished upon clearing his head.

"Hey, man, that's great," Clint told him in all sincerity, because finding love was just the best damn feeling, and why not have it spread amongst his teammates? "Pepper's a cool lady. Too good for you, but aren't they all?" he added. They were bordering on real feelings here and Clint wasn't quite sure he and Stark were that close.

Time to take it light.

"Classy ladies like Pepper and Natasha are too good for me too," he confessed to soften the barb in case Stark took it too seriously. "Hell, for pretty much everyone here but guys like Steve. And maybe Sam. Jarvis the Younger, too, and definitely Phil – "

"Dammit, Clint, I don't need a list of everyone Pepper would be better off with and – God dammit, you did it again!" Stark said with a slam of his locker and a shake of his head. He dropped back down to the bench and started putting on his shoes. "You don't want to tell me who you're sleeping with, just say that," he said, looking up in Clint's direction. "No harm, man, no foul. I _do_ know how to back off if it's too sensitive – "

This last was said earnestly enough, which Clint appreciated, only now he feared Stark had the wrong idea. Thinking he was closeted – or worse, ashamed – would definitely be worse than the ribbing he and Bucky would have to endure from Stark knowing.

"Not sensitive, just that it isn't any of your business, Stark," Clint started. "It isn't anyone's. But," he continued before Stark could do something else out of character, like apologize, "since you asked so nicely, I'm seeing Bucky. We are not and will not be each other's dirty little secret."

Stark opened his mouth, but then shut it before he said something stupid. Instead he nodded in acknowledgement, and offered an awkward smile.

Clint smothered a sigh. Fuck. Was that smile just Stark being embarrassed because he'd pushed things too far? Concern about the fallout to the team if the relationship fell apart? Or some form of homophobia, though that would also make Stark a hypocrite – at least going by the news stories that had been reported on Stark since his teens.

Clint supposed he'd better find out.

Being gay or bi certainly didn't carry the stigma – especially in pro sports – as it had a generation ago. Unless your last name happened to be Stark. But then Stark's entire life had been in a fishbowl from the moment of his birth; not just his sexuality, but his prowess, his preferences, his perversions...

When he'd been a kid, Clint had wanted to have the fame, fortune, and the kind of family that Stark had been born into, but now Clint could also see the downsides to go with Stark's figurative and literal riches. Downsides like loneliness and never knowing if someone wanted to be with you because of you, or because of what you could give or do for them.

Clint had found his own kind of wealth – the better kind – from having friends like Natasha and Kate, and from finally finding satisfaction and contentment in this team and his ongoing opportunity to play a sport that he loved. And then there was Bucky.

"I'm bi, if you're really that curious," Clint offered. "And before you ask, yes, Nick and Phil already know about me and Bucky. If you have any concerns how our relationship with affect team dynamics, trust me," he had to add, not even trying to keep the wryness from his tone, "It _is_ possible to play alongside someone that you refuse to talk to outside of the game."

"Your brother?" Stark asked, showing he had done some data-diving about his teammates at some point.

Clint nodded. "Amongst others, for a variety of reasons I don't want to talk about," he said quickly. "Bucky and I aren't going to screw up the team. We are grownups and professionals, and besides, it's not like this team isn't already drenched in relationship drama. There is you and Steve – "

"There is no me and Steve," Stark protested. "I told you, I'm a one Pepper guy – "

"—and the way the two of you are always butting heads," Clint plowed on over Stark's denial. Butting heads like two rams in season, and Stark probably shouldn't have given up on threesomes, because that was some prime UST shit right there. (According to Natasha, Pepper was happy to participate, should the other two ever catch the clue bus.)

"Okay, butting heads, yes. Guilty," Stark acknowledged.

"Then there's your buddy Bruce's movie-of-the week story and his big love for Thunderbutt Ross' daughter. And that Thor is still dating Sif from his old team as well as Tripp's ER. Of course, if anyone's going to screw up the team, it could just be Phil and Melinda and their rink-size UST. Or Jarvis the Younger's pining for Femme Maximoff – "

"Paul and Wanda? Really? How did I not know that? Do you have everyone bugged or something?"

"Hawkeye, remember? I see everything. But tell me straight, Stark, do you have a problem with Bucky and me together?"

"Me? No."

"Glad to hear it," Bucky told him, walking back into the locker room.

"Jesus fucking shit buckets, Barnes!" Stark screeched. "Heart attack much?"

Truthfully, Clint hadn't noticed Bucky's return either, but Stark's hysterics should have kept Bucky from noticing Clint's small flinch.

"Thought you were well-known for your skill in keeping track of the play, Stark," Bucky chided. He waved off Stark flipping him the bird and came over to straddle the bench next to Clint. "Started to get worried, Babe."

Clint studied Bucky's face. While they'd decided they weren't going to hide their relationship, actually telling someone – telling Stark – might have been stretching that decision a little too much. Fortunately, Bucky looked more amused than anything.

"Sorry," Clint apologized. "Stark and I were having a _conversation_."

Bucky nodded. "So I heard. He seemed a lot more scandalized over Wanda and Paul than over us. I don't know whether to be insulted or happy about that."

"I was not scandalized about any of it," Stark objected. "But I will be if I hear more 'Babes', and 'Sweetie', or – " and here Stark shuddered theatrically, "Pooky."

"Ooh, I like Pooky," Bucky cooed. "You should be Pooky and I'll be – "

"Honey bunches of cuddle muffins?" Clint suggested, so they could both turn to watch Stark pretend to gag.

"You are going to be one of those couples aren't you?" he asked accusingly. "All endearments and nose rubbings and forehead kisses."

"I'd like to think we're actually going to be one of the wild and hot couples, who'll end up doing it everywhere," Bucky responded, to which Clint could only nod and adjust himself.

That sounded mighty fine to him,

"God, no, can you imagine what Steve would say if you guys did it on one of these benches. You probably don't hear him down on your side of the ice, Clint, but Steve regularly calls us out on swearing, whether we're mic'ed for the night or not. He is such a fucking boy scout."

"Forget Steve," Clint countered. "I don't want to think about what Tasha would do if she caught someone fucking on one of these benches."

Stark laughed. "I bet you she gives a good shovel talk. Which one of you did she give it to, or did she corner each of you?" he asked.

Bucky shook his head. "She thought we were already together. Steve gave us one, if you want to call it that. It consisted of, 'I'm glad for you guys. Try not to mess it up.'"

"Our very own six-foot tall boy scout."

**Now:**

_"Once more, Edwin Jarvis, to call tonight's game."_

**_It's been a hard-fought road for both teams to get here, with Manhattan winning the first game of the series, Seattle taking the next two, then Manhattan on top again. Game 5 went to Seattle, then Manhattan kept their dream alive in Game 6 to tie the series._ **

**_I know that no one, including those of us involved with the Avengers, expected to be here, and we couldn't have made it this far without the incredible outpouring of faith and support from our city and from fans living all around the world. We are so grateful for the way you have welcomed the players, the team, and the organization into your hearts._ **

**_I also want to express my personal thanks to Ms. Peggy Carter, the woman who believed that Manhattan deserved another chance to have a professional hockey team and then made it happen. A little over a year ago, she asked me to be the Voice of the Avengers and, frankly, wouldn't take no for answer when I told her that I had embraced my retirement. In truth, I would have been heart-broken to have missed this historic, Cinderella season, so thank you, Peggy, for reminding me why I became a sports announcer in the first place._ **

**_When we return, the face-off and the starting line-ups on the ice_ _._ **

**Then:**

Despite having lived in America for several years, as well as having studied International Relations with an emphasis on the Motherland's chief rival, Natasha still had her troubles understanding certain aspects of her adopted culture. For the most part, the language didn't bother her; she spoke more eruditely and with a wider vocabulary than many of those native born – at least of a majority in the League – and understood idioms as well as articles, thank you very much. That she chose not use articles very often when she spoke was more giving people what they expected; a trick so that she'd be underestimated. In Russia she'd used her gender in much the same fashion, and while women weren't quite as invisible in America as a rule, there were still enough bastions where men held all of the power so that being dismissed as unimportant or non-threatening had its advantages.

Exposing her true self still bothered her, but she was getting better about it now that she had a few people she'd begun to think of as her friends. She suspected she'd eventually be comfortable enough to stop hiding from most of her teammates and the organization, though she wasn't there yet.

Case in point: Edwin Jarvis. As the team's announcer and, apparently, one of the owner's oldest and dearest friends, not to mention the grandfather of her counterpart winger on the Avengers' second line, by and large the rest of the team considered 'Jarvis the elder' as an Avenger too. He was the team's biggest fan; their most enthusiastic supporter and, therefore, trusted and treated more fondly than the team's actual mascot.

Edwin Jarvis, however, was also a member of the press. All of who, for most of Natasha's life, were either propagandists or crusaders, and decidedly people _not_ to be trusted.  

It was little wonder that she was terrified as she made her way up the stairs leading into the building that held the Avengers' practice rink, front offices, and the broadcast studio. Her fears weren't just nerves from being interviewed. While the nature and extent of the penalties might not be the same should she say the wrong thing, her livelihood could still be affected should she make a fool of herself – or of anyone else.

Natasha should have said no when Jarvis had asked.

Could she have said no?

"Hey, Natasha. I hope you don't mind company?" she suddenly heard from behind her, along with the sound of footsteps racing up the stairs.

Natasha stopped and waited, not so much surprised that someone had come up behind her since she'd let herself wallow in her fears to the exclusion of her surroundings. Being startled was only what she deserved for being so foolish. Her surprise came from recognizing the man coming up on her six was Sam Wilson.

He gave her a smile, one of his disarming, friendly ones, but that wasn't any sort of surprise either, since Wilson almost always had a friendly smile, and meant them too. She allowed herself to smile back, grateful enough for the break from her thoughts that she meant hers too.

"I know it's a little weird," Wilson began in response to her smile, "but Steve takes his team captain role very seriously, and while he never says anything, I think he expects the same out of the line centers. So, he thought it might be easier if you had someone familiar to bounce things off of during the interview, even though JTE is really cool, and easy to talk to – "

JTE. Oh, Jarvis the Elder. Yes, that made sense –

" – Steve meant to come himself, but Ms. Carter – Peggy, not Sharon -- needed a sudden escort to a charity luncheon with the Mayor over at the Children's Hospital. Since Coulson's in no shape to be around kids with his current cold and Fury is too colorful with his language to be allowed around children and the Mayor at the same time. Plus Fury is probably helping Maria come up with tonight's game plan. Given we're on the same line, and since Steve was bailing on me, so I no longer had any plans, I thought I'd see if you wanted some back-up during your interview. If you'd rather, I can see if I can reach Wanda or Stark since he's the best with – "

"No Stark!" Natasha said quickly, not just because Wilson had finally paused long enough that she could interrupt, but also because nerves would be the least of her fears should she find herself sitting alongside Tony Stark during an interview. She liked Stark well enough, and in other circumstances, might have even used him to take away the spotlight JTE wanted to shine in her direction. But if she truly was going to be an Avenger, to become part of a team that saw itself just as much as a family, she couldn't keep to her shadows, unwilling to give up something of herself.

"I don't need Stark," she tried again, shedding the fear and the stridency underlying her tone. "Not when I have you. Shit! Sorry," she then said, nearly choking on the purr she'd automatically added. "I don't mean – "

"Natasha, hey, it's okay," Wilson told her gently, taking one of her hands between both of his. "You want to seduce me, I ain't gonna say no, but I'm not here for that. I'm not helping you in hopes of that either. If you want me gone, I'm gone. It's just that getting a mic stuck in your face after a game is a lot different than being asked questions that don't have to do with hockey. The way Steve tells it, he froze during his installment of _Get To Know Your Avengers_ , and he's the reason why these interviews are now taped instead of live. Personally, I think it's just as likely it was Tony's interview – or Fury's – that had Ms. Carter suggesting the rest get done off-line."

Despite her face heating up in embarrassment, Natasha laughed, as no doubt Wilson hoped she would, at the thought of Nick Fury answering personal questions, given his one word answers to questions about the team, or Coulson and Hill's coaching. And while Stark had spent too many years in front of a camera to get caught with a hot mic, he was also the kind of man who delighted in putting on a show, especially if it meant trolling a reporter – or sometimes even a teammate.

"Russian press always has an agenda," she explained, since Wilson seemed willing to listen and she really did want someone else to understand. "If we needed to speak to foreign press, we were given a set of acceptable answers, or phrases to say instead of an answer."

"And with all the shit going on these days, words like media bias and fake news don't instill a lot of confidence in American journalism, no, I get it," Wilson acknowledged, giving her hand a squeeze before he let go of it. "If you ask, I'm sure Jarvis will let you hear the tape after it gets edited but before it goes on air – or if you want, I can tell him that Steve wants to hear it before it gets broadcast and let him take any heat for doing so, not that I expect there to be problems with how you come off, or in having Steve sign off on it. This is supposed to be a bit of fun for you as well as the fans."

Fun was definitely not a word Natasha would have used in describing any interview, though she could admit that she'd laughed while listening to Clint's interview, and had been quite touched by the story Wanda and Pietro had told of growing up with only each other in Sokovia, and in how pleased they were in being able to now play on the same team.

"I think it would be better if I trust Jarvis to do edits without my approval. If I'm wrong in that trust, it is better to find that out now than months down the line when being misrepresented would hurt more."

Wilson frowned.

"Cynical, but totally understandable," he responded, so maybe his frown wasn't aimed at her directly, but instead over why she felt that way.

He certainly wasn't acting disappointed in her, or disturbed on behalf of Jarvis. Even if he didn't agree or understand her concern, he still seemed to recognize that concern was valid to her. She found herself looking at him again, not just as an object of study and sorting, but as someone she might be able to trust off the ice as well as on, like Clint and Bucky.

"Thank you … Sam. Thank you for coming and standing with me."

Sam, not Wilson. Her new friend.

Natasha gave herself a little nod and opened the door. The guard on duty recognized and waved them on toward the corporate offices. The reference kiosk showed that the broadcast and recording studio lay behind the offices, and Natasha let Sam take point since he'd already done this and was moving purposefully.

They were waved on again by Peggy Carter's receptionist, getting some friendly greetings or additional waves as their hallway led them passed full glass front and open door offices. Sam brought them to a second reception area, not quite as large as the one fronting the executive area, but one just as tastefully decorated and furnished. This one held no receptionist.

Still, an elderly gentleman in very proper, semi-formal morning dress immediately came out from an open door that did not front a glass-enclosed room.

"Natasha Romanoff. Hello and thank you for coming. "I am Edward Jarvis."

**Now:**

**_"Your starting goalies for tonight's game are brought to you by Roxxon Oil, the official motor oil of the NAHL. Once more for your Avengers, it's Clint Barton, known as Hawkeye, the guy with the amazing hand-eye coordination, versus Lawlor 'Force-field' Maw of the Celestials. It's been a titanic contest between these two in the finals, with Barton the more actively physical player against Maw's game of precise moves and stick manipulation. Both have stellar blocked shot percentages in the series; Barton's coming in higher in part because of the greater number of shots on goal the Celestials have taken over the Avengers'. Tonight's game might very well be decided by whichever of them blinks or breaks first._ **

_**With the Cup on the line, this is it. The start to the seventh and final game of a spectacular series, as is only right in capping off an unbelievable season.** _

**_Looking at the ice, in a surprising changeup, Coach Josh Thanos is starting two thirds of his second line on the ice, with Number 17, Luke "Loki" Blake replacing Gregor Chitauri at right wing along with Gregor's twin, Alexis, at left, and Lee Ronan in at center._ **

**_Coach Phil Coulson is also changing up his roster tonight for Manhattan. The first line of the Avengers had more ice time in Game 6 than normal, and while it definitely proved worth it by giving the Avengers their needed win to take this Cup final to Game7, there is no doubting those extra minutes took a toll on Rogers, Barnes, and Stark._ **

**_So we are seeing Sam Wilson's second line with Romanoff and Paul Jarvis starting for Manhattan, as Loki takes control of the opening face-off for the Celestials and shoots the puck from the red line at center ice toward Number 31, Alexis Chitauri. Alexis and Gregor are actually one of two sets of twins expected on the ice tonight, alongside Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, also both wingers, for Manhattan._ **

**_Alexis passes it back to Loki, who makes a move to skate around his own brother though not a twin, Number 32, the big D-man for the Avengers, Donald Blake, who is affectionately known as Thor to Luke's nickname of Loki. Tonight Thor is starting on defense with his normal partner, the man in the Number 3 jersey, Bruce Banner._ **

**_Donald and Luke both came this year to the North American Hockey League from the Scandia League's Tromsø Æsirs. This is the first time in their careers that they have not played on the same team. Last season, Thor's partner Banner was playing for Thaddeus Ross' Philadelphia Thunderbolts._ **

**_Moving into the Avengers' defensive zone, Loki spins around Number 37, Paul Jarvis, and lines up for a shot. Jarvis keeps on Loki, gets a good stick check. Number 13, Natasha Romanoff, steals the puck for the Avengers._ **

**_Romanoff flips it to the Avenger center, Sam Wilson, Number 71. Wilson gets slammed into the wing-boards by the biggest player in the NAHL, Terry Cull, the Celestials' behemoth at 6'9" and 260 pounds, who wears Number 69. Wilson and Cull battle it out for possession, keeping the puck in the corner. Players from both teams converge to assist._ **

**_Cull isn't running with his normal defensive partner tonight as Glaree Kree earned a suspension for two misconduct penalties in Game 6. In for Kree is Maht Pacle, while Tyros Terrax got the call up from the Celestials' minor club so they kept four defensive skaters on the roster. Pacle, is nearly a clone of Kree, both of them topping 6'5" and only a handful of pounds difference._ **

**_It's Natasha Romanoff again who gets control of the puck. This time she chips the puck over to Jarvis as she dances into the neutral zone, gliding through players that look to be twice her size._ **

**_With Romanoff's speed, Jarvis' precision, and Wilson's skill at making plays, the Avengers second line would be a first line on many other teams._ **

**_Jarvis takes the puck into the Celestials defensive zone. Alexis Chitauri and Pacle move to stop him, leaving Wilson open near the slot. Wilson slaps Jarvis' pass toward the crease, but Number 22, Lawlor Maw, is there to deflect it back._ **

**_The puck bounces off of Pacle's stick right back to Wilson. He aims it once more at the net. The shot goes wide. Romanoff skates around two Celestials to claim the puck._ **

**_The puck slides along the board to Jarvis, who cracks it back to the goal line. It gets past Maw but hits the post. Wilson and Loki duel over the rebound until Maht 'the Obliterator' Pacle bulls his way through the two of them._ **

**_It looked like Pacle aimed for Wilson, not the puck. On-Ice Referee, Erik Selvig, agrees. Penalty and power play coming up – an interference call on Pacle as Wilson gets up slowly. We'll be back with a 0-0 score on the Auerbach Theatrical Agency scoreboard._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/b5tXJ0qy) **

**_That last possession again had Paul Jarvis, one-on-one against Alexis, in a good matchup. Jarvis faked inside against his former teammate, then went outside, and boom! The puck gets by Maw, only to hit the post instead of going into the net. On the rebound over the top of the net, Wilson versus Loki until Pacle crashed the play—and Wilson – and earned himself an interference penalty to give Manhattan the first power play of the game._ **

**_In Game 6, the Celestials faced five Avenger power plays and stopped them all._ **

**_As we look at Maht Pacle in the penalty box, it looks like Cull is also on the bench for this first segment of the penalty kill as 6'6", 263 lbs, Tyros Terrax comes in on defense._ **

**_An odd move, that. The rookie in for the veteran who doesn't screw up as a rule, and who has had a surprisingly low number of penalty minutes for a defense player this season. Considering that Cull is a wall unto himself, he is normally on the penalty kill. Obviously Josh Thanos has seen something the rest of us missed, or he's looking to season his new rookie early in the game where a mistake can be corrected or compensated for._ **

**_With this face off, we're finally seeing the first line of the Avengers on the ice against the Celestials' revised second line. Number 19, Steve Rogers, against Number 19, Shaw Corvis. Rogers wins the draw._ **

**_Gregor Chitauri deflects Rogers' pass away from Stark, right into Terrax's stick. Terrax manages to clear the zone as he shoots the puck all the way down behind Barton at the net. No icing called since the Celestials are down a player on the power play._ **

**_By now, you've probably heard that Steve Rogers hadn't even picked up a hockey stick for years, but it bears repeating. Rogers was the number one draft pick seven years ago. Instead of signing with the Atlanta Scoundrels, however, he followed his late father's footsteps and volunteered for military service. After serving six years in the Army, he asked for a discharge so he could come home and help his closest friend since childhood rehabilitate after a terrible injury – that best friend being our very own Number 68, Bucky Barnes. I'm not sure how holding a gun translates to holding a stick, but the skill was and is definitely still there in Rogers, along with leadership qualities that were tapped when Rogers was named team captain after the Avengers had finished their pre-season with a 6-1 record._ **

**_Thor takes control of the puck from where Barton placed it. He shoots it over to Rogers. Rogers advances to the neutral zone and then passes it over to Barnes. Taneleer Tivan breaks up Barnes' pass to the Avengers' bona fide all-star player, Tony Stark, who didn't recover in time after taking a solid hit by Umman Tarru._ **

**_Terrax spins the puck around the end-boards. It's chipped out at the left side by Tivan over to En Dwi Gast, Number 55, the center of the Celestials' third line as Thanos makes a quick change._ **

**_Dwi Gast takes a shot that doesn't even get into the same zip code as the net._ **

**_Thor stops Tivan on the rebound, leaving the puck for Stark. Stark heads toward the blue line but runs afoul of Dwi Gast. Who takes a second shot toward the net that Barton brushes away with ease._ **

**_The Celestials are handling the penalty kill well, spreading out, keeping the puck on the perimeter and mostly out of Avengers' hands, even if they're not doing much with it themselves beyond killing time._ **

**_Endri Drall takes possession, as the Celestials bring their fourth line in on the fly. She drops it back to Terrax, who's won clear of Thor and Banner. Terrax shoots it to the boards in a dump and chase to settle another line change for the Celestials in just a minute and a half; their fourth in the game._ **

**_Banner challenges Terrax. Terrax passes quickly to left winger, Astran Molyn. Rogers intercepts and flicks it up to Barnes. He and Stark race to the Celestials zone on a two-on-one against Number 36, Tryco Slatterus._ **

**_Stark and Barnes both have good career numbers on the breakaway. They keep the puck moving back and forth between the two of them, not giving Slatterus a clue as who might take the shot. Smartly, Slatterus, who's big for a forward coming in at 6' 2", drops back to reinforce Maw and the net._ **

**_Stark takes the shot. Maw makes the block and sends it into the corner._ **

**_Barnes scuffles with Slatterus for the rebound. Barnes wins and shoots it to Stark. Stark, who is being shadowed by Drall, gets around Drall and slips the puck to Rogers. Rogers passes to Barnes. Back to Rogers. To Barnes again. Tony Stark guns cross-ice for a pick up, but loses the puck to Drall who clears it once more for the Celestials._ **

**_Thirty-seven seconds remain in the power play for Manhattan Avengers._ **

**_Molyn chops the puck past the Avengers' newly arrived third line center, James Rhodes. Aimed for Alexis Chitauri, it's Wanda Maximoff who gloves and drops it to her stick, getting the puck back for Manhattan._ **

**_Wanda Maximoff was picked up from the Portland Mystics in the expansion draft. Her twin brother, Pietro, also unprotected, had spent the last two years on wing with the Toronto Hellions. He spent part of this season with the Avengers' minor league club, the Commandos, recovering from an ACL injury_ **

**_Closing seconds of the power play._ **

**_James Rhodes with the puck, gains the Celestial defensive zone. Alkhema Jocasta takes the drop. Terrax makes an open ice hit and Jocasta's pass gets deflected into the crowd._ **

**_The Celestials have once more successfully killed an Avenger power play._ **

**_It looks like Pacle is having a few words with Referee Selvig as he comes back onto the ice. If he's not careful, he's going to get sent right back into the box, but whether it's his own common sense prevailing, or Coach Thanos' screams, Pacle backs off._ **

**_Pacle stays on the ice with Terrax. James "Rhodey" Rhodes faces off against Lee Ronan as Thanos sends tonight's version of his top line in again._ **

**_Rhodey is the smallest center on either roster tonight, but also has the best lifetime stats. He spent the first years of his career with the Thunderbolts. General Manager Nick Fury, traded two of their initial expansion draft picks along with a future draft pick to the Dallas Novas for Rhodey, who'd gone to Dallas after Philadelphia and played eight years for the Novas before becoming an Avenger. No doubt, in part, to give his team the depth and experience needed with so many young players picked up in the expansion draft, along with those who hadn't even been playing hockey last year._ **

**_Rhodes takes the draw, dumping the puck behind for Banner to handle and pass over to Jocasta. Loki poaches it at the Avenger blue line, twisting it off to Ronan, who curls it around the boards and back into Avengers' hands._ **

**_Alexis Chitauri misses most of his check on Rhodes, but this time Rhodes is the one to lose the puck to Loki, who wraps one right into the crease. Barton knocks it down._ **

**_Wanda Maximoff gets the rebound. She takes a hit from Cull and misses clearing the zone. Back on her skates in an instant and in Cull's face, Wanda is not the least bit intimidated by someone taller in the shoulder than the top of her own head._ **

**_Offsides is called so we'll take a short break._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/55vQEyng) **

**_Maht Pacle is back on the ice. He's known for helping teams out on the power plays -- has a good stick, moves the puck well, and presumably will see some time out there tonight when the Celestials have the man advantage. So far, however, he's been playing like a goon, with the only penalty in the game so far on what really was a cheap shot._ **

**_Dane Whitman gets waved off the circle, so Peter Parker, Number 15 and the Avenger's youngest player at nineteen, moves in to handle the face-off for Manhattan against Tryco Slatterus. Slatterus wins the drop, but he chops it directly to Pietro Maximoff, who twists it around the end-boards and back to Parker. Parker gets it to the net, only to be shut down by Maw._ **

**_With the Maximoff twins, Parker, Alkhema Jocasta, and Barton's backup on goal, Kate Bishop, offsetting the older Avengers like Barton, Thor, Banner and Stark, the Avengers have one of the youngest teams in the League, averaging just twenty-six years of age. For most of the season, such youthfulness has been an asset, but it's the pressure games like tonight where you can really see the difference between the seasoned players and the kids._ **

**_Parker loses the puck to Slatterus , who sends it careening off the board onto Number 12, Astran Molyn's, stick. Molyn pushes the puck ahead to Drall, who drives it toward the goal._ **

**_Barton kicks it out._ **

**_Shaw Corvis gets control of the puck as the Celestials carry out a line change. He shoots. The puck sails wide. Carrie Proxima, cruising around the net looking for a deflection, flips it over to Gregor Chitauri, who guns in from the point. Thor slaps it away before the puck can reach Barton._ **

**_But here comes Proxima again, with a left-corner backhand toward the goal. Barton blocks and sends the puck to center ice._ **

**_Romanoff gets the puck as the Avengers enact their own line change. She also gets a check by Terrax that sends her to the ice. No penalty._ **

**_Corvis takes the puck. Misses on a back side pass to Gregor Chitauri. Romanoff with the pick-up and a quick pass to Sam Wilson. The Avengers gain their attack zone._ **

**_Wilson bounces it further along, but Gregor wings in from the left side to intercept. Romanoff cuts off his pass to Corvis. Makes a cross-ice drive and shoots. Off the post! She catches her own rebound on the doorstep and shoots again. Scores!_ **

**_The Avengers jump to a 1-0 lead._ **

**_Natasha Romanoff exchanges slaps on the glass with fans as she circles the boards and then skates past her bench to exchange fist bumps after making the first goal of the game._ **

**_You'd have to go back six years to the last time Romanoff played ice hockey on a professional team: the Stalingrad Specialists of the Soviet League. She's said she maintained her skating skills by joining a theatrical ice show after emigrating to the US from Russia. While still performing, Nick Fury tapped her to replace Antoine Triplett earlier this year after his horrific accident, mostly based on half remembered impressions of her playing for Russia in the three Winter Olympics._ **

**_Her skills are certainly on display tonight. Leading up to her goal, she stole the puck three times, caught her own rebound, and then scored on a little shimmy step and deke to pull Maw off the net. Shaw Corvis didn't help matters when he passed behind Gregor, who couldn't make the play. Gregor then got his own steal and a chance to clear the zone, but Banner slammed Gregor into the boards just at the release and once more Romanoff's speed made the difference as she intercepted, shot, and then bang, scoring unassisted into the short side of the net._ **

**_During the break, true hockey fans will be taking to the ice -- Tesseract Ice. It's the spirited taste that goes with everything – Tesseract Ice, the official vodka sponsor of the National American Hockey League._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/qQrLeQ0Y) **

**_Steve Rogers moves into the face-off circle against Number 55, En Dwi Gast._ **

**_Up until this year, you could barely tell the difference between Dwi Gast and Tony Stark on paper – always good and often great total scores and averages. They pull down big salaries and are on a team to contribute in multiple ways. While Stark's numbers as an Avenger are certainly respectable, where he's excelled has been in working with the younger players like Parker and the Maximoff twins. Stark might not have planned on becoming a team babysitter, but he certainly got the job done this season, all while turning in an impressive enough score of goals and assists to prove he was a big part of the Avengers' success._ **

**_Dwi Gast, however, has struggled this season. Not all of it's been his fault, as Josh Thanos and the Celestials' assistant coaches switched Dwi Gast from playing as a winger on the second line to center of the third, to make room for Luke "Loki" Blake. It'll be a hard call to guess if Dwi Gast still remains with the Celestials next year, and if he does leave, whether it's because he'll ask to be traded, or because Thanos will convince J'Son Russell to let him go._ **

**_Certainly his work in the playoffs hasn't given Thanos and Russell much reason to keep him,_ **

**_For now, Thanos has enough confidence in him to keep on the ice and gets rewarded as Dwi Gast controls the drop and spins around Rogers to keep the puck himself. He passes to Taneleer Tivan as they skate over the blue line. Banner's check comes a little late and we get a whistle._ **

**_Interference and two minutes to Banner in the box at 14:04 of the first period, along with a face-off in the Avenger defense zone._ **

**_Dwi Gast again, getting the drop again, this time from Number 54, Dane Whitman, whose line is now in on the penalty kill. Whitman is a solid player that came to the Avengers from the Denver Guardians in the expansion draft._ **

**_Dwi Gast in front to Gregor Chitauri for a chance at the crease._ **

**_Barton stops him._ **

**_The puck goes around the far side. Peter Parker, Number 66, takes out Carrie Proxima before she can take control of the puck. It ends up on the stick of Terry Cull, who smacks a backhand to send the puck into the corner. Thor does his own smacking on Cull at the release._ **

**_The puck stays deep in the Manhattan zone and gets picked up by Proxima. She shifts it back toward Cull. He has to send it out to Ronan near the line as the Celestials start their changeup. Ronan plays it over to Loki. Loki back to Ronan, who's moved to the weak side wing. Ronan to Proxima in the slot. She shoots._ **

**_Barton gets his blocker on it and sends it back out of the crease._ **

**_Terry Cull beats out Thor to the puck. He spins it into the corner. Alexis Chitauri finds it ahead of Pietro Maximoff. He shovels it out to Loki. Loki on the drive around Parker, but again, Barton is there. He holds on to the puck this time._ **

**_Clint Barton has been in the League for ten years, but in this season, he's played more than the total number of games he started as goaltender for the Chicago Wonders, where he's played back-up for the workhorse, Buck Chisolm, for his entire former career. Much like Rogers and Romanoff, few predicted that Barton would burst out under Coach Coulson and turn in the kind of numbers that takes your team to the Stanley Cup Finals._ **

**_Barton has been outstanding during the playoffs as well, although the toll of the extra games the Avengers have needed to play against the Celestials seemed to have slowed his startling reflexes for a second or two in Games 5 and 6. Tonight he looks to be back in top form, but we will have to see how long he can keep it up, and under what kind of pressure the Celestials might bring._ **

**_The Celestials are definitely bringing it here on the power play. Their players are finally showing some life. They're taking some hits, but also some real shots on goal._ **

**_Whitman wins the face-off and backhands the puck to Parker. Who gets blindsided by Cull into Barton, all three of them then hitting the goalpost hard enough to move it nearly a foot out of position. Cull's hit gets the crowd on their feet and booing._ **

**_And a Celestial penalty coming up._ **

**_With 1:07 remaining on the penalty to Banner, it's Carrie Proxima, not Cull, who gets the penalty call; a four minute double minor penalty for high sticking no one saw but the referee._ **

**_Showing the replay on the Auerbach scoreboard, it looks like Parker lost track of the defensive man, Cull, as he shifted to advance out of the Avenger defense zone. In the instant they collided with Barton, Proxima gets her stick into the middle of the scrum to try and flick the puck in, but instead gets Barton across the facemask. You can see Barton's head snap back as he tried to keep the puck covered despite getting taken out at the knees by his own man._ **

**_The Celestials finally get it geared up, they get a couple of opportunities, and then Proxima gets four minutes with sixty-seven seconds left in their power play. For those sixty-seven seconds, the teams will play four-on-four, and then for the remaining two minutes fifty-three seconds of Carrie Proxima's penalty, the Avengers will have their own power play._ **

**_The Avengers lead one to nothing, with five minutes two seconds left in the first period._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/qRrx6Vve) **

**_Barton and the ice got cleaned up during the break, goal and goaltender returning to their proper positions, though it looked like, for just a moment, that Barton might need a little more time – and a new helmet. He and helmet were both looked over, however, and both were given the go ahead to return. Were this any game of the regular season, I have little doubt that Kate Bishop would have come in for the rest of the period to give Barton a little extra time to settle himself during the upcoming intermission, but with the Avengers only up one goal, Coach Coulson is going to keep Barton in._ **

**_On the face-off, Whitman controls the puck. It dribbles out to Parker. Parker drifts left. Gets hemmed in by Cull. Loki cuts over and takes a forecheck by Pietro Maximoff before Maximoff gets slammed into the boards by Cull. The puck ends up underneath Loki, so it's another face-off, with forty-two seconds left in the four-on-four, two minutes fifty-three seconds still coming in an Avenger's power play, and four minutes twenty-seven seconds left in the first period._ **

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**_Right now, we are still waiting for the Celestials to play at their best. They really want to score before the end of this first period._ **

**_While we wait for the next face-off, what does everyone think about today's big trade: the New Orleans Rogues giving up Peter Quill to the Denver Guardians for Lila Cheney and a third round draft pick in each of the next two years?_ **

**_Quill was the first pick overall in the draft five years ago, which has been one of the most fruitful drafts in recent history, this year's expansion one notwithstanding, as it turns out. Quill was picked by New Orleans back then, Paul Jarvis, who's on the ice for Manhattan – and just happens to be my grandson – was picked second overall by the Celestials. I believe Snart was third – Lisa Snart who ended up playing alongside her brother with the Vancouver Starlings – Kara Danvers fourth for the Justicars out of Calgary, and fifth overall was our own Alkhema Jocasta chosen by Hank Pym's Silicon Valley Engineers._ **

**_How's that for a top five? And two of them are teammates now with the Avengers –_ **

**_The puck comes back down between Corvis and Rogers. Corvis gets his stick on it first, though it takes a weird hop so you can't really say he had control._ **

**_Alexis Chitauri chases after it. He swings to get it out of the slot and down toward the neutral zone but nobody's there for the Celestials._ **

**_Rogers corrals it before the puck crosses the blue line, keeping it in the attack zone. He turns it out for Barnes. Barnes gets help from Stark, who takes the hit from Cull intended for Barnes. Barnes goes towards the boards. Cull gets back into position in front of Maw as Barnes flips it over to Stark._ **

**_Stark slides it up to Rogers, who sends it immediately back. But Stark is just the distraction, pulling Cull and Maw both to his side of the net. He immediately passes the puck off to Barnes there at the corner of the crease for a quick backhand into the net. He scores with three seconds left in the four-on-four, and an Avenger power play coming up!_ **

**_The Avengers now lead 2-0!_ **

**_If the Avengers score again during the not quite four minutes left of the first period, most of which will be on a power play, the Celestials will have quite the deficient to make up. And I imagine Carrie Proxima will have to do some groveling to Josh Thanos during the intermission for a chance to get back out onto the ice._ **

**_Bucky Barnes' goal was picture perfect, as was the fake out by Stark, as well as Stark's earlier screen. Neither Cull nor Maw made particularly bad reads. They were simply outplayed. Relied, perhaps, a little too much on past reputations and expectations, as Tony Stark has been well known for taking shots when he should pass. And Bucky Barnes had been expected to retire after receiving the injury that sidelined him for most of the last two years prior to this season. When that didn't happen, even fewer people expected Barnes to not only to return to his previous level of play, but to become even better as an Avenger._ **

**_Certainly Owner Alexander Pierce and Coach John Garrett no longer thought that Barnes would be able to produce for them. They practically gave Barnes away in the expansion draft, also giving up a future first and second round draft pick just to get Fury to take Barnes off their hands. They, like Stane and Raza for Malibu, and even Carson and Tiboldt at Chicago, have to be the ones kicking themselves the most for what they eagerly gave away to Peggy Carter and Nick Fury._ **

**_As Wilson controls the drop at center ice, Banner comes out of the box and now the Avengers are on the power play, the Celestials the penalty kill for two more minutes and forty-eight seconds. Romanoff takes the puck across the blue line. Terry Cull is back in front of Maw on defense. He gets joined by the right winger, Tryco Slatterus, as the Celestials mount a strong defense against one of the two Avengers who has already hurt them. Dwi Gast and Tivan will have to play to position more than the puck, hoping to contain more than control the Manhattan second line._ **

**_Romanoff passes to Wilson. Wilson over to Jarvis, who charges toward Slatterus. Tivan manages a stick check that shakes the puck loose, but Romanoff gets it back before Tivan can do anything more. She swings behind the net and shoots the puck over to Wilson. Wilson aims a shovel pass over Dwi Gast's stick back to Romanoff. Dwi Gast stays on her like a shadow and gets away with a hook that doesn't get called, shaking the puck loose when Romanoff struggles to keep her balance. Dwi Gast clears the puck down ice and we have a minute fifty-one left on the power play._ **

**_Barton holds the puck at the top of the crease for Thor. Thor out to Rhodes as his line comes onto the ice. Rhodes takes it into the neutral zone. He passes to Wanda Maximoff. Wanda with a cross and drop back to Rhodes._ **

**_Tivan gets the intercept on the pass from Rhodes to Jocasta. Tivan passes the puck on to Dwi Gast. Dwi Gast to Slatterus, then back to Dwi Gast. Banner checks Dwi Gast into the glass. One minute ten left in the power play, two minute twelve seconds left in the period._ **

**_Slatterus gets the puck away from the huddle on the boards. He loses it to Wanda Maximoff. Wanda takes the play into the Celestial defense zone, before dropping the puck back to Rhodes. With Banner acting screen against Maw, Rhodes takes a shot. The puck hits something, Maw or the post, and bounces over the net._ **

**_Jocasta picks it up in the corner and comes around with it. She takes a quick backhand shot that gets blocked by Cull. Banner controls the rebound, fans a pass out to Rhodes, but gets his stick back on it before Tivan can get the steal. Out to Wanda._ **

**_A heavy check by Cull on Wanda gives Tivan his chance and he clears the puck of the zone. The Avengers power play ends with no additional score. We're back to full teams for the last minute and two seconds._ **

**_The Celestials change on the fly, bringing Loki and Corvis in with Proxima, Maht Pacle joining Cull on defense._ **

**_Loki has the puck at center ice. He passes to Proxima. She and Corvis charge down the center. Thor comes up to help Wanda on Proxima, and the three get tangled up on the boards. Wanda emerges with the puck. She pivots and makes a pass to Rhodes. Rhodes beats Corvis to take the puck into the Celestial zone. Gets hipped checked by Pacle, who comes away with the puck._ **

**_Under a minute now to the end of the first period._ **

**_Pacle over to Corvis. Corvis to Loki. Loki out of the zone into center ice, and he keeps going, with Jocasta and Wanda Maximoff skating on his flanks, the both of them reaching to chop the puck away._ **

**_Forty-two seconds._ **

**_Loki off to Proxima. She spins, takes the shot. Barton with a leg save. Jocasta get the rebound. Corvis gets the steal._ **

**_Twenty-seven seconds._ **

**_Barton blocks the shot by Corvis. Dives to the other side of the crease when Loki hooks the rebound and tries a short backhand. Proxima on the new rebound. She passes to Corvis with fourteen seconds on the clock._ **

**_Corvis gets checked by Thor. Rhodes clears the puck. Loki on the intercept and pick up at the blue line. Passes to Proxima. Back to Loki. He shoots with three seconds left. Banner deflects it into the boards. And time runs out before anyone can take control of the puck._ **

**_At the end of the first period, its Avengers two, Celestials nothing, in this, the last game of the Stanley Cup finals._ **

**Then:**

"Shit, Barton! Are you hungover on travel day?"

"Hush, Pietro," the little shit's twin said, not that Clint needed Wanda's – or Bucky's – intervention.

Not that Bucky needed Steve's cautioning hand on his arm either, but that was good old Stevie, who sometimes knew Bucky better than was comfortable.

Clint merely lifted his sunglasses and tilted his head Pietro's direction, saying, "Feel free to come check," as he pulled down the skin below both of his eyes using only his middle fingers.

The Maximoffs might have been born in Sokovia and still retained their accents, but they'd lived in the States long enough to understand what was really being exchanged. When Pietro simply laughed and let his sister drag him over to a pair of seats next to Parker, Bucky let out the breath hadn't realized he'd held in.

"You okay, Buck?" Steve asked him, all innocent-like, though Steve was nothing of the kind.

"The kid's an asshole. If he's not careful – "

"The kid is twenty-three and nervous," Steve reminded him. "He was with the team for six weeks, most of that during pre-season, before his injury and getting sent back to the minors to rehab. He's just trying to find his place again. Considering the way most of the team shows friendships is through insults and practical jokes, Pietro is just trying to fit in. You were still as much an asshole at twenty-three as you were at thirteen and, no doubt, will still be one – "

"Just shut up and grab the other drinks, punk," Bucky growled. He knew Steve was right; knew that Pietro hadn't meant any harm by what he'd said; though if there were any reporters nearby, the damage was already done despite Pietro's intentions. The fact that Clint didn't drink alcohol at all since his father had killed himself and his wife by driving drunk when Clint was six would make no difference.

Bucky wasn't sure when he'd become more sensitive to that kind of ribbing than Clint was himself, but it probably meant something about that state of his and Clint's relationship. Like getting coffee for Clint did, even if he and Steve had gotten drinks for Sam and Natasha too. Bucky didn't mind that he'd reached the over-protective stage. He was pretty sure Clint wouldn’t mind either, though Bucky would need to keep an eye on his behavior, at least while they were in public. The news cycle about who was sleeping with whom in the team had already passed, thankfully, and Bucky didn't want to do anything to get it going again, at least not something that would get mouths wagging over unsuitable gay and gender stereotypes.

He and Steve got the orders distributed and then took their own seats. They still had forty minutes before they'd board their plane; Fury's rule being that the team gets to the airport with at least a half hour to spare before boarding. Since missing a flight due to traffic or weather conditions wasn't normally an acceptable excuse – and anyone who did was expected to make their own way to join the team on their own dime – by and large they all tried to get there closer to an hour ahead.

Sure, sometimes that meant spending closer to two hours at an airport, when even their charter flight couldn't keep to its schedule, but that was an acceptable tradeoff since making your own arrangements, especially last minute, was a hassle and damn expensive. They'd all heard about the time that Stark had bet on the plane waiting for him since he'd texted Hill that he was just getting dropped off at the terminal five minutes before their flight was scheduled for takeoff. As everyone else had already boarded, Hill chose not to even tell Coulson that Stark was in route or suggest they delay takeoff for a few more minutes, finally only letting everyone know that Stark was fine once they were in the air. Stark had had to head over to Newark from La Guardia and make connections through Atlanta _and_ Seattle to get to Calgary in time to make the travel night dinner and thus insure he made the roster for the game the following night against one of his biggest personal rivals, Bruce Wayne of the Justicars.

Speaking of rivals …

"Are you okay?" Bucky asked quietly as he leaned into Clint. This was their first of two games against Chicago this season, and while most everyone had reasons to want to best their former teammates, for a few of them it was more something to be dreaded. Bucky had had his own problems playing back in the Triskelion, and had been damn glad they beat the Hydras in their first match-up, but Clint's return to the Carnival Pavilion had more at stake than proving how much better off he was with his new team and home. Family always made things complicated.

"I'm fine," Clint said automatically, but he opened his eyes and turned to meet Bucky's concern with gratitude. "Barney and I stopped talking outside of necessity months before I got traded. So being ignored isn't going to be anything new. That he got a starting position before I did doesn't matter anymore since I'm playing for the team with the better record, and said record is in part because of me. Sure, I'll be happier if we win, but that's for the team's sake, not because I need to rub it into Barney's face. Confidence in my own skills has never been one of my issues."

Unlike Bucky, though he knew Clint wasn't implying that. Clint's biggest hockey problem had been getting someone else to recognize the skills that he had, whereas Bucky still had trouble believing his own successes were due to his own abilities over his teammates setting him up to be able to score. In most teams, focusing on teamwork over individuality was a good thing, a way of bonding and bringing everyone's levels up. Pierce and Garrett had done the opposite with the Hydras, however, keeping everyone constantly competing for their positions, and using teamwork as a way of belittling instead of building. It wasn't something Bucky had recognized until he'd come to play for Coulson and with Steve – and even Tony. He still struggled with it.

"I'm a little more worried that Barney is going make you his _special_ target during the game, assuming he's even bothered to follow what the reporters have been saying about anything to do with me."

"Hell, I wouldn't worry about that, babe. You know I do just fine giving back what I'm given, but even if he does take a cheap shot, we both know that Banner will be the first to sacrifice himself to make sure that kind of shit doesn't happen more than once."

"Yeah, well, I'd rather you don't get hurt, and Bruce doesn't get suspended, because of my dumbass brother. If anyone's going to get taken from the game because of me, it should be me."

"Nyet," Natasha said, coming over to set herself down on Clint's other side. "Your brother tries something; you leave it up to me. There are subtle ways to deal with goons, ways that the referees and coaches do not see."

"Tasha, I don't – "

" _I have never gotten caught,_ _Cliyushka_."

And that was that, Bucky guessed.

At least Natasha seemed to think so, and was now asking Clint something about a shop on the Magnificent Mile.

Bucky let himself slide back in his chair and shove his legs out, taking in a moment to calm himself down. He'd take things in Chicago as they came, no need to go borrowing trouble, as Steve enjoyed saying. At least he was pretty sure he could sleep on the plane – that Clint would be able to, so he could too – assuming the idiots around him quieted down even if they didn't plan on catching some more shut-eye themselves. Leaving home at the crack-ass of dawn to catch an early flight either wound people up, or left them dragging. Even with the coffee Bucky had already consumed, he preferred to pass the flight in peace if not actual sleep.

"You brought a book?" Whitman started ribbing someone over in the next block of seats. "I've got, like, four hundred books on my phone, at not even a quarter of the weight, or the bulk."

"Yes, but you can't use your phone when we are taking off or landing," Monroe answered back. "Plus, you have to worry about it staying charged."

"Like you actually read any of your books," Hercules joined in against Whitman. "You're too busy playing your comic book battle-game, _Nomad_."

"How did you know my – "

"You're reading _Alive_?" Jocasta interrupted, sounding horrified enough that Bucky opened his eyes and turned his attention toward his other teammates.

"Like _Alive:_ _The Story of the Andes Survivors, Alive?"_ Wilson questioned.

"What's wrong with that?" Whitman defended. "It's – "

"It's about a plane crash, and teammates eating one another," Banner helpfully pointed out for those who might not have recognized the title. "Some people about to get onto a flight might be put off by a book like that." _He_ didn't sound particularly horrified or upset, just mildly curious.

After getting to know him, Bucky thought Banner would have ended up in a lab doing research somewhere, if he didn't skate like a demon, and hit like a monster.

"No, that's a good question," came Stark's two cents. "We'll start with you, Natasha. Who would you sacrifice first, if it was eat them or die?"

"Peter, of course," Natasha offered up. "Veal is always tenderest of meats."

"Yeah, but a long marinade with good wine – or an even better whiskey – I don't know, Natasha," Steve countered, much to everyone but Bucky's surprise that he wasn't instead shutting the conversation down. "I think a Stark tenderloin might beat out your Parker filet."

Natasha shook her head. "Too old. You'd have to marinade Stark over a lifetime – oh, wait, I see what you mean. Maybe."

"Like you don't drink vodka like it's water," Stark responded.

Natasha shrugged. "So, I am old too. I am also sneakier and luckier, not to mention, in better shape. I will be survivor in our plane crash. You might, but also might not. But if you did, others would definitely kill you before they killed me – "

"How about instead of deciding what order to kill one another, we board the plane," Coulson said quite mildly, not that it wasn't an order, or that the discussion was open for further debate.

"Forget what I said before. I don't want Steve's leadership qualities when I grow up," Clint said as he leaned toward Bucky to get both their carry-ons they'd stowed earlier under their seats. "I want to be Coulson."

"At least you're willing to admit you haven't yet grown up," May ribbed, cutting into the loose-formed line ahead of them. "You'll be lucky to even reach Sam's level."

"And why am I being insulted?" Wilson groused.

"Hey, third behind me and Coulson, how is that an insult?" Steve asked, laughing and clapping Wilson's shoulder.

"Who says she meant Wilson was in third place," Rhodey piped up from beside Stark. "I exhibit a calm and stable influence any time I'm on the ice. The _Daily Bugle_ said so."

Bucky couldn't help but smile. Steve hadn't been wrong when he said the team showed their fondness for one another through insults. Some of the players for the Hydras had done the same, but more often than not, there was a cutting edge to them that had generated discord as much as it had a sense of fellowship.

Winning was great, but it meant a lot more when you were playing well amongst friends, not just the people who were on the same team as you.

***

Bucky knew that fretting about it wasn't going to get Clint up into their room quicker, but he couldn't help feeling like he should have stayed, at least in the lobby if not actually taking a seat next to Clint. The way Clint had stiffened when they'd come into the hotel –

At first Bucky had thought Clint had been attacked or hurt in some way. But Clint hadn't even acknowledge the team's travel coordinator approaching along with a manager and other hotel staff with room keys; hadn't jostled his way forward to get one of the first set of keys because he was a big kid and didn't like them to have to wait until only the rooms next to Fury, Coulson, Hill, or May were left. Instead, his attention had been fixed on a guy sitting on one of the plush couches, looking as out of place as Bucky usually felt in these kinds of hotels. Bucky had taken his own look at the guy, and though they didn't really look all that similar, he'd seen enough images of Barney Barton on the ice to figure out that the guy had been Clint's brother.

Bucky had started to follow Clint, but he'd waved Bucky off with a wan smile and a request that Bucky get their room and would he please make sure their luggage got were it needed to be. Of course Bucky had wanted to say no, if not to be the supportive boyfriend, than just one teammate looking out for another in a potentially bad situation. But he'd already been admonished by Steve, and had beaten himself up for reaching his too protective over Clint limit today, so he didn't.

Instead he'd gotten their room and gotten their luggage sorted too. He'd even taken his post airplane shower and unpacked most of their things, and still no Clint. Bucky had grabbed up his phone more than once to text him, thinking that maybe Clint was relying on him to reach out and give Clint an excuse to get up and leave, but Clint was damn good at selling the "Sorry, the phone was on vibrate, I have to take this," and even pulled off the, "See?" complete with a text by Coulson on the screen that had a current timestamp on it. He didn't need Bucky to save him, and anyway, Clint wasn't a guy afraid to ask when he wanted some intervention from Bucky or one of the others.

Just as Bucky was going to head downstairs despite all of his justifications not to, Clint's distinctive knock sounded through the door.

"You found the right room," Bucky said rather stupidly after hurrying over to open it.

Clint didn't razz him about it though. He nodded and said, "I checked in with Coulson, first," as he came into the room.

He looked around once, as they always did (though they'd never found a puck bunny waiting for them, unlike Steve), and then looked at Bucky, his expression not exactly nervous, and not all that upset, but still showing something Bucky wasn't quite sure he was reading right.

Sheepish? Stunned?

Bucky decided to go with stunned.

"That was my brother, as you probably guessed. He decided, in his words, _that it was time to stop being an asshole_ ," Clint imparted. "He came by to apologize, since he wasn't sure he'd have the opportunity to do so tomorrow at the arena."

"You mean so he doesn't have to do so in front of his team," Bucky suggested meanly.

Clint simply smiled. "Well, yeah, because he might not want to be an asshole, but he's still my big brother, the ass, who cares a little too much about what others think of him."

"You sure he's not just trying to butter you up now that you're doing well, that he's not going to hit you up for money or something? He's left you in the lurch before." Bucky didn't want to be the voice of doom and put an end to Clint's happiness over this step that Barney had taken, but he also didn't want Clint getting hurt a lot worse than his doubts and question might cause.

Clint shrugged this time, before heading over to the weird love-seat/couch thing that occupied most of the second part of their suite. Bucky had already found out it was uncomfortable as hell, stiff and too deep to sit down and lean against the back. But it sure matched the rest of the décor of the room, which seemed to be the point in these kinds of hotels.

As Clint just took a seat on the edge of it, the awkward leaning and ability to keep your feet on the floor if you did shove yourself back didn't come into play. Clint still looked uncomfortable, picking up and studying the seam on the cylinder shaped pillow (or wasn't it called a bolster?), that Bucky hadn't figured out a purpose for. Bucky moved closer, but chose not to sit down next to Clint, as he still wasn't looking up, even as he started to speak again.

"I think Barney's apology was genuine. He's moved out from Jacques' place, and sold his Aston Martin for a mini-van, of all things. He says it's all because he's fallen in love, with a mom who's raising her two kids on her own: a toddler and a baby. And no, neither of the kids are Barney's. Or Jacques' for that matter, though I know at least two do exist that Jacques barely acknowledges. Barney met her at the Pavilion; she runs one of the concession stands. The other reason he came by, was that he wanted me – well, us, since I told him I had a plus one – to come over to their place in Des Plaines to meet her and the kids tonight in exchange for a really good home-cooked meal. Again, his words. That's the other reason I checked in with Coulson, to get us a pass for the team dinner. Assuming you're willing to come with me?"

"If you want me there, I'm there, Clint. I'll even make nice with your brother. My only concern is that you're setting yourself up for heartbreak again."

Another shrug. "He's family, Buck. I'm never not going to give him a chance. I never want to become the guy who won't."

"Yeah, I know. It's one of the things about you that drives me crazy, in both the bad and the good way." Bucky pulled him up from the couch to give him a kiss. "You do know that even if Barney's legit, you're not going to be a big part of each other's lives? Not for years, assuming the both of you stay healthy. Will a few times a year be worth – "

Bucky stopped himself, already knowing the answer. "Right. So how far away is Des Plaines from here, and is there somewhere along the way we can stop to get flowers or something?"

Clint's smile is part relief, part gratitude, and a lot of fondness, if Bucky's reading him right this time.

"Barney's offered to give us a ride, though he's okay if we want to find our own way there too," he advised. "It'll take most of an hour if we make a stop. We're in the Midwest now. No boroughs, but yes, suburbs have plenty of places _to_ stop once we get off the tollways and into the residential neighborhoods. They might be grocery store flowers, but it would have been grocery store wine if left to me. I'm sure Barney won't mind making the stop since it'll be for Simone. He'll get us back too, in plenty of time for curfew. It's not like he doesn't have his own check-in before game day, and Tiboldt's the kind of coach who calls and demands a selfie, showing the time as well as where you are."

Harsh, but it had been worse with the Hydras. "Our curfew was 7:00 pm on the day before a game," Bucky shared. "It never mattered how well you still played, or how long afterward Pierce found out, but if you got caught breaking curfew, you'd get suspended from the next game and no pay, as well as an additional $10,000 fine that was then given to the person who ratted you out if it was someone within the organization."

Clint's eyes widened comically. "Shit, Bucky. Did you ever – "

"I only did it five or six times during my time in DC, and only got caught once, when Steve was coming in for a stint at the War College, and only had a couple hours layover. I'd totally do it again, including getting another $25,000 fine for breaking Rumlow's nose."

Clint shook his head but still laughed. "Hydras really are mostly a bag of dicks, aren't they? Even if you weren't so hot and my teammate, I'm glad you're not there anymore."

Bucky gave Clint kiss for that and then a little push. "If Barney is waiting on us, you'd better go grab a quick shower. I'll go down and make with the small talk. I'll be good, I promise. After all, I never thought I'd get the chance for embarrassing Clint-as-a-kid stories, so I'm not going to blow it."

Clint let himself be chivied, pulling some jeans and a thick, soft-as-sin sweater for when he was done – brought because it was Bucky's favorite – from his luggage. It was as colder than Siberia outside, or so Natasha had bitterly complained when they'd gotten out of the terminal and had to cross the drop-off lanes of traffic to get to the team bus.

"I'd complain, but you don't know half of what Steve's already told me about you."

**Now:**

**_Welcome back to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Whoever wins tonight, wins the whole thing; the season, the playoffs, the Cup. Having the Celestials here is no surprise; Seattle has the winningest team in the North American Hockey League history, and they are helmed by the winningest coach in the League's history. But no one and I do mean no one, including myself, ever thought that we'd see the NAHL's newest team, what was first called Peggy Carter's Folly before they were introduced as the Manhattan Avengers, here in their inaugural year. The Avengers are not just here, in this decisive Game 7, but they have the lead over the Celestials, 2-0._ **

**_Both teams started tonight with changes to their line-ups, the Celestials not only mixing up the composition of their first and second line, but they also brought up Tyros Terrax from the Albuquerque Obsidians to replace the suspended Glaree Kree as a starting D-man. So far, Terrax's inexperience hasn’t created too many opportunities for the Avengers, but we still have two periods to go and the Avengers have their two goal lead._ **

**_The first goal came with Natasha Romanoff getting the puck past Lawlor Maw, seven minutes and thirty-six seconds into the first quarter. Bucky Barnes scored for the Avengers again during a four-on-four that came about when Carrie Proxima high-sticked Avenger goalie Clint Barton hard enough to put a small crack in the plexi of his protective helmet that had to be replaced during intermission. Those penalties and further mistakes and miscues kept the Celestials from capitalizing on their own two power plays, something I'm sure they got an earful about from their General Manager_ and _Coach, Josh Thanos, while they were in the locker room._**

**_Thanos is going with his changed first line of Alexis Chitauri, Loki Blake, and Lee Ronan. It's their center, Ronan, who steps into the face-off circle to meet Steve Rogers, captain of the Avengers and center on their first line, to start this second period._ **

_**Rogers controls the drop. He keeps the puck and crosses the ice, changing places with right winger, Tony Stark, who drifts toward the center. Stark picks up the pass from Rogers and charges into the Seattle defense zone. Terrax is there to back up Alexis Chitauri. Stark passes to Rogers. Gets the puck back and fakes a shot, only to pass it over to Barnes.** _

**_Barnes takes the shot. It gets deflected by Maw. Rogers on the rebound. He chops a backhand toward the goal. Maw makes the block with his stick. Ronan pulls it down from the air, but Stark slides it away and crosses back to the side, puck firmly under this control and exhibiting some of the fine stick handling he's shown in past years._ **

**_Terrax stays with him. Steers and then slams Stark into the corner and steals the puck back for the Celestials in a well-executed, if bell-ringing play. Terrax pushes the puck to Ronan. Ronan out quickly to Alexis Chitauri at center ice._ **

_**Alexis takes a hit from Thor, but Loki sweeps in from behind to get the puck before Barnes can. They cross into Manhattan's zone lock-stepped, Loki unable to shake Barnes. He slides it over to Ronan. Good contact by Banner. Ronan passes the puck to Alexis before he loses it.** _

**_Alexis with a wrist shot that sails wide on Barton's stick side. Rogers and Ronan vie for control, and the puck ends up over the glass and into the crowd. The face-off will stay in the Avengers' zone._ **

**_Both teams make a change here, the Celestials going with Shaw Corvis, Taneleer Tivan, and Carrie Proxima._ **

**_Corvis gets waved off for making early stick contact with Wilson in the circle. Wilson now against Tivan, with Wilson taking control of the drop. He flips the puck out of the zone. Four skaters are going for the play, and it's Romanoff who comes away with the puck. She passes to Jarvis. Back to Romanoff, who clears the blue line, and keeps charging to carry it in toward the slot._ **

**_She swings. The puck careens off the skate of Kamo Tharnn, who's sharing defensive duties with Maht Pacle for the Celestials. Shaw Corvis shoots it back to center._ **

**_Tivan with a one-on-one against Banner. He takes a shot, but it's a harmless floater that's gloved by Barton._ **

**_Barton's drop to Romanoff is immediately stolen by Proxima, who shoots. And misses the net. Now it's Corvis trying to make a play, but Donald Blake gets in the way of his shot. The puck ends up behind the Manhattan net._ **

**_Driving after it is Taneleer Tivan, Number 56. He's being draped by Jarvis as he pokes the puck back to the front. Proxima is there. She chips it and scores!_ **

**_Proxima, hanging out by the net while Tivan did the dirty work. She finished the play, and the Celestials put one on the board, now trailing the Avengers 2-1. Corvis and Tivan on the assists for Proxima's second goal of the finals at a minute twenty-four._ **

**_Barton simply got beat there, something that hasn't happened all that often this season._ **

**_I guess Carrie Proxima is forgiven for the double minor penalty she made for high-sticking Barton in the first period – at least by Josh Thanos and her teammates._ **

**_Now it's Steve Rogers in the face-off circle, as the Avengers first line returns to the ice after the Celestials score their first goal of the game. His puck, until he passes it to Barnes. Barnes over to Stark._ **

**_Tivan trails Stark as he takes the puck into the Seattle defensive zone before passing it to Rogers. There's Maht Pacle with a big hit on Rogers and a steal. Thor Blake gets the puck away from Pacle, spins it around to Barnes. Bucky Barnes, who can kill momentum as well as anybody in the history of this game, unable here to connect with a pass. But he gets it back from Corvis, thanks to a screen from Stark that moves both Corvis and Pacle out of the picture._ **

**_Barnes to Rogers, back through the slot. But all Avengers are covered by Celestials._ **

**_En Dwi Gast scoops the puck away from Rogers for Seattle. The center for the Celestial second line sends it out to Gregor Chitauri, on a breakaway. Gregor centers and shoots._ **

**_The puck is steered aside by Barton._ **

**_The Celestials, with a little bit of jump now off of that goal, are able to keep the puck deep and force Barton to handle it once again._ **

**_The puck gets played off the boards. Terry Cull gets his massive body in the way to keep the puck down low. Dwi Gast's got it now. He's in for a shot, but again, Barton sticks it aside before Dwi Gast can really release it._ **

**_A good, aggressive play by Barton there. But Dwi Gast ends up with it again. Alkhema Jocasta is in for the Avengers and doing her own job harassing Dwi Gast. Dwi Gast keeps his legs and the puck churning, long enough for Gregor Chitauri to come in and help out. Now it's Gregor and Corvis in the corner with Banner. Banner, Number 3 for the Avengers, pries the puck free._ **

**_He gets immediately checked into the boards by Cull. James Rhodes puts a hit on Cull and gets the puck, but Tyros Terrax flicks it away. Once more into the corner. Up the boards comes Wanda Maximoff. She gets control and slides it back down low for Jocasta._ **

**_First Terrax, and then Gregor Chitauri put a hit on Jocasta. Around to the far side the puck goes. Where Carrie Proxima is waiting. Proxima spins it around the boards. Comes right and runs into Banner. Her shot is deflected wide._ **

**_Rebound to Rhodes. He starts back toward center ice. Passes to Wanda. Endri Drall, now in with her third line, breaks it up._ **

**_Good pressure by Manhattan. They want to get that 2-goal difference back, and barring that, they certainly don't want to see the score tied._ **

**_Astran Molyn sends the puck back deep for Drall. Tryco Slatterus is out cruising in front, but Drall can't get it to him as Wanda Maximoff intercepts._ **

**_She sends the puck to Rhodes at the Celestial blue line. Terrax covers, staying with Rhodes, sending him into the boards. Drall is there to turn it back down in the zone._ **

**_Two Avengers back, as Slatterus carries the puck to the Manhattan line. Over to Drall. She takes a shot. Into Barton's stick._ **

**_Banner comes up the puck and passes it over toward Peter Parker cross-ice. Parker fans the pickup. Drall gets it, plays it to Slatterus. His right-wing feed to Molyn is denied at the line by Banner._ **

**_The puck goes into the crowd._ **

**_Molyn and Dane Whitman come together at center ice. Both teams are skating here, showing speed, forechecking, taking shots. The fans, too, are stepping up their support; the locals, of course, hoping to see more action on the other side of the ice._ **

**_And getting it as the puck slides over the Celestial Blue line. Driving after it is Pietro Maximoff. He gets tugged at by Molyn. Parker follows and gets control long enough to take a backhanded shot that Maw stops before going down._ **

**_Drall gets taken down as well. We've got a penalty coming up here, and a new power play. I'll get the penalty for you when we get back. The Avengers still lead 2-1 on the Auerbach Theatrical Agency scoreboard._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/BZIGbJP4) **

**_Take a look at the replay action by Peter Parker, the youngest player on the ice tonight at 19 years old. Beautiful puck handling. He swings around and takes a shot. Lawlor Maw shifts and gets a right-pad save. And then the penalty. Parker with a little unintentional hook on the arm, pulling Endri Drall off balance, who successfully milks the fall to the best of her ability._ **

**_So the Celestials go to a power play. And they, by the way, will have to do without their big D-man, Terry Cull for the rest of the game. He's aggravated some bruised ribs, I've been told, and will not return on the ice._ **

**_But right now, the Celestials have the player advantage. Shaw Corvis, Number 19, gets checked in the corner by Bruce Banner. The puck hops over the boards, so we'll keep the face-off in the Manhattan zone._ **

**_As you look at Carrie Proxima back on the ice, who has the only Celestial goal so far tonight, she got a big boost for it. She didn't stick handle through the entire Manhattan team and then beat Clint Barton, but it doesn't matter. It's a goal. Done early in the period, as well, which helps for the rest of this period and, hopefully, at least as far as the Celestials and their fans are concerned, for the rest of the game._ **

**_Loki Blake takes the draw against Rogers. Loki, Proxima, and Corvis up front in a new line for the Celestials, with Terrax and Pacle on the points in this power play opportunity._ **

**_Rogers controls the puck and clears it to the line, but not out. It's held in the corner now by Proxima. She centers to Loki, but he's forced back behind the net to get control. Loki passes to Corvis, who takes it back to the corner. To Terrax at the point, who passes it along the boards back to Corvis. Shaw Corvis drives in for a shot that sails over the net._ **

**_Pacle takes the puck but can't control it. Corvis does, and takes another shot. It's knocked down by Thor Blake before it can reach Barton. The rebound gets cleared out of the zone by Barnes._ **

**_Good pressure by the Celestials on their power play. They could use a little more accuracy on their shooting, though. Make Barton stop those shots instead of doing his job for him with their misses._ **

**_Maht Pacle shoots the puck behind the Manhattan net. Pacle wound around Rogers but couldn't control it. Proxima jumps on it and collides with Pacle, The puck ends up in the crowd._ **

**_Pacle is quite a story on the ice tonight. He's forechecking aggressively, trying to take some chances, trying to get this game tied up or at least give his team a bit of a lift._ **

**_Now the Celestials move Dwi Gast, Alexis Chitauri, and Gregor Chitauri onto the ice as a new power play unit. With Terrax and Pacle on the points._ **

**_Barnes takes the draw and pushes it out of the zone, so the Celestials have to retreat now with forty-five seconds left to their power play._ **

**_Twelve minutes forty-six to go, second period, with thirty-three seconds remaining for the Avengers penalty kill. They are leading 2-1._ **

**_Banner just clocked Dwi Gast at the Manhattan blue line. The Avengers clear for their second or third time in this power play._ **

**_En Dwi Gast goes back against Banner as Dwi Gast claims the puck. Another aggressive check and Alexis Chitauri is chasing the puck in the corner with Thor Blake covering. Alexis passes to Dwi Gast as Banner moves to protect Barton and the net. Rogers heads after Dwi Gast, who's behind the goal line. Dwi Gast chops the puck out to Gregor Chitauri in the corner._ **

**_Ten seconds remain in the power play._ **

**_Terrax slams a drive deflected to him by Alexis Chitauri. It goes wide. Alexis has it back. He passes to his brother, Gregor. Gregor sticks it at the net, but the puck hits Barnes, and that will take care of the power play, as Parker comes out of the box, and the Avengers clear the zone._ **

**_Peter Parker chases the loose puck with Tyros Terrax, right in front of the Manhattan bench. Terrax pokes it to the Manhattan line. Now Banner takes it. He flutters one down the ice. Chasing is Romanoff on the change-over. She whips it around the boards to Paul Jarvis, who shoots it at the net._ **

**_No good._ **

**_The puck comes back to Banner. His pass is blocked by Pacle._ **

**_The Celestials go to the transition game as Gregor Chitauri starts up ice. He makes a soft dump-in, forcing the play offsides. Or Alexis just didn't slow up enough in support of his twin's puck handling._ **

**_So with the offsides and 10:34 remaining in the second period, it's still 2-1 Manhattan, and we take a break._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/tTpkAfRn) **

**_Ten minutes, thirty seconds to go in the second period, Celestials trailing by a goal as the Avengers control the face-off._ **

**_Natasha Romanoff gets a dump-in behind the net and a body-check by Drall that I can feel up here in the booth. Jarvis can't avoid another from Terrax as he takes the puck to the corner before Banner takes out Terrax. Drall sneaks in to look for the puck and comes away with it. Endri Drall now with Molyn. This is Drall, Number 20, from behind the net, looking for a play and not finding the opening she wanted. She leaves the puck for Slatterus._ **

**_Celestials cycling, looking for some room here._ **

**_Slatterus, still behind the net, trying to pass it free. Paul Jarvis steps in front of him for the steal. Jarvis sends the puck up the ice. First to Banner, who shifts it over to the left side and Sam Wilson. Wilson to Romanoff who comes down the middle with it and goes for a backhander. The puck makes it past Maw only to hit the goalpost._ **

**_I wonder if they'll review that. I never saw the red light, but from up here it looked good and the Avengers might ask for a review when we get a stoppage._ **

**_For now play continues, with Ummon Tarru blocking an attempt by the Avengers to keep it deep in the Seattle zone. Paul Jarvis just took a hip check from Taneleer Tivan. Still the Avengers' puck when Tony Stark takes it on his stick as the Avengers change lines._ **

**_Stark turns in the corner and sends the puck over to Barnes behind the net, who tries to hook it in at the post. Maw scrambles to block._ **

**_What a move as Stark takes the rebound, practically undressing En Dwi Gast as he slides around the larger skater. A shot, and once more off the post!_ **

**_What a break for the Celestials._ **

**_Gregor Chitauri takes this rebound and sails it across the rink for an icing call here against the Celestials. The face-off will come back to the Seattle zone, as you look at a frisky Steve Rogers. I've talked about him all season. He's an excellent skater as well as a playmaker. If you see him striding up the ice his feet are wide apart, that means you won't see him down on the ice very often. Good balance, and if he uses his speed, he takes the shot. Thirty-seven goals is a damn good season for a first year player in the NAHL, but that has him ranking fourth on this team. His sixty-two assists leads his team, as does his ninety-nine overall points, though only by two over Barnes, who was forty-six and fifty-one._ **

**_Ronan and Tivan are out on the ice now for the Celestials, along with Shaw Corvis in a complete rearrangement of Coach Thanos' lines. Ronan, I guess, is taking the left wing position as Corvis goes into the face-off circle_ **

**_Rogers with the drop. He flips it over to Stark. Stark dances around Ronan and drops it back for Barnes, who shoots it right back up to Stark, but not before Stark goes offsides at the Celestials' blue line._ **

**_Just about midway through the second period, it's the Avengers 2 and the Celestials 1. The Avengers got both their goals in the first period. Carrie Proxima scored for the Celestials at 1:24 into the second._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/1BDtUSmR) **

**_If you're just Joining us here in the second period, Terry Cull is out for the game after aggravating a rib injury, leaving the Celestials with just four defensemen because of Glaree Kree's suspension in Game 6. Two of those defensemen -- Tyros Terrax and Maht Pacle -- have not seen a whole lot of ice time in the post season. Terrax because he's just up from the Celestials' minor club, playing in his first game in the NAHL, and Pacle because of an injury early in the playoffs that had him only coming back in in Game 3 of these finals._ **

**_Tony Stark takes the face-off against Shaw Corvis. He sends the puck off the boards to Banner, who forwards it to Steve Rogers. Rogers flips it out to Barnes who can't hold it._ **

**_Lee Ronan takes it back, pokes it ahead to Corvis, who can't find Tivan. Corvis sends it down the ice instead. The touch by Barton negates an icing call._ **

**_Corvis and Rogers duel for control. The puck gets popped over to Tivan who skates back around to the slot, shadowed by Barnes. Tivan passes to Ronan, who shoots. Barton deflects it back behind the net._ **

**_Ronan gets slammed into the glass by Barnes, while Corvis is involved in front with Donald, 'Thor' Blake, the Avengers' big defensive man._ **

**_Thor Blake is no slouch when it comes to bringing down the thunder. Born in Norway, he's dedicated his whole life to the ice, and trains just about as hard in the summer as he does when he's playing. In his early career in the Scandia League, he took great pride in with how good he was with his fists, but we didn't see too much of that this season with Manhattan. Under Fury, Coulson, and the defense coaches, he's matured into a smarter player, leaving the reckless retaliations and enforcer behavior behind, as evidenced in how Thor flattened Corvis with a beautiful open-ice check just now.._ **

**_Selvig is calling a penalty on the Barnes hit. We'll see what his actual call is when we get back. It's 2-1, Manhattan, but the Celestials have a power play coming up, as things start to heat up between the players._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/ljl9I6uv) **

**_If you're wondering how many penalty minutes Bucky Barnes had this season, he just got two minutes for boarding Lee Ronan, which gives him a total of twenty minutes for the year, six of them happening in the Finals._ **

**_So the Celestials have two minutes with an extra player._ **

**_The face-off goes to the Celestials in the Manhattan zone. Alexis Chitauri takes an immediate shot. The stick save by Barton sends the puck out into the crowd. I think that's about the seventh souvenir puck tonight, with four of them deflections by Barton._ **

**_In the new face-off, Dwi Gast wins the draw. Thor Blake moves toward Dwi Gast. Dwi Gast passes to Alexis Chitauri, who takes a rising shot this time. It, too, gets deflected by Barton over the net and then slammed down the ice by Jocasta for Manhattan on the penalty kill._ **

**_One forty-six to go to the power play._ **

**_The Celestials have Pacle, who's got the puck now, and Terrax manning the points. Dwi Gast at center, with Loki Blake and Alexis Chitauri acting wingers._ **

**_Sorry, folks, but I don't know which line this one is; neither of the Chitauri twins have been Thanos' go-to skaters on the power play this season._ **

**_Dwi Gast gets the puck from Pacle at the boards. He passes to Alexis Chitauri, whose pass in turn to Loki Blake goes astray. Thor Blake scoops it over to Rhodes, who loses it back to Loki. Loki passes it to Alexis Chitauri in a reverse of the Celestials' last possession, but Alexis doesn't keep himself in the neutral zone, and gets called offside._ **

**_That's exactly what I've been talking about for the last couple of games._ **

**_Blowing or missing effective passes in the neutral zone. It's so important. You've got to stay aware of your position. It's just a fundamental of hockey._ **

**_It's not really a matter of coaching. Most of the trouble is just players being overanxious. Alexis Chitauri going offsides while trying to get a jump, trying to get in behind the penalty killers. Just too impatient._ **

**_Something that it looks like Coach Thanos is screaming at Alexis about as the winger comes to the bench, berating him for his mistakes instead of reminding him he doesn't need to race to get the puck. That he just needs to keep aware. hold his position, and let the play develop across the line instead of charging up the ice. Most other coaches would be going down the bench as he sends in Ronan and Gregor Chitauri in to replace Dwi Gast and Alexis – with Ronan taking position for the face-off – letting them know that he understands that his players are trying to do the right thing –_ **

**_Ronan takes the drop, but his possession of the puck is immediately challenged by Rogers. Stark and Loki Blake both come to help their respective teammates. Puck and players hit the boards and we have a skirmish for control._ **

**_Back to Thanos' coaching style. Okay, it's the last game of the Stanley Cup finals and they're down by one, but there is still plenty of time left in the game. In my experience, angry or demoralized players get sloppier, not sharper. But Alexis Chitauri, like two-thirds of the Celestials' roster, has five years playing under Coach Thanos, so maybe the yelling isn't that big of a thing for him. I supposed, it could even be an odd ploy to throw off the Manhattan players, as more than one of them are watching Thanos' temper with discomfort and even a little sympathy._ **

**_Stark wins the shoving match and chops the puck over to Banner, who's playing forward of Thor Blake, with fifty-four seconds left on Barnes' penalty. Banners sends it down the ice._ **

**_To give Coach Thanos the benefit of the doubt, I imagine there are coaches who have been driven batty over the years by players who possess an enormous amount of skill and whom they expected, over the players' first few years of their career, would pick up certain basic fundamentals of playing in the Majors and adjust to them, but who just never do._ **

**_Then you take a player like Steve Rogers, who hadn't even handled a stick in several years and has played from day one like there had been no lag. He plays a precision game. Never overextends himself. Always thinking, always watching. He moves in at the right time to pick up a loose puck or to get into a spot to get a pass or take the shot. Or he sets up someone else's shot, because he plays with no ego, at least not with respect to besting his own teammates._ **

**_Lee Ronan has the puck. He and Corvis have only Thor Blake in front of them protecting Barton and the goal. Terrax is floating along behind the two forwards. Ronan drops a pass back to Terrax, who lines up a shot from the sideboards, but then shifts it to Corvis. Corvis scores!_ **

**_The Celestials have tied it at two!_ **

**_Three different times in Game 6, Shaw Corvis passed the puck when everyone expected him to shoot. He must have had a talking to, because there was no hesitation this time, and Barton was caught on the wrong side of the net covering the shot Terrax didn't take._ **

**_With the score 2-2, we'll cut away for a break._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/b5tXJ0qy) **

**_This is the third game in the playoffs that the Celestials have come back from two-goal deficits. First against Silicon Valley in Game 3 of the Conference Title, then in Game 5 against the Orlando Mists for the Division Championship. The Avengers have come back from a two goal or more deficit three times in the post season, and they've broken a tie to win in the last period four times, but so have the Celestials; most recently in Game 5 of these finals against the Avengers. With 6:21 left in the second period, this is still anyone's game._ **

**_While most of the crowd here tonight is behind the Avengers, the Celestials' fans haven't been slouches when it comes to making noise, and they are definitely producing the decibels right now._ **

**_Wilson and Drall do their best to ignore it as they take the face-off circle, just as both teams have to ignore that last goal, because hockey, even more than basketball, is a game that only moves forward. Momentum is something different, however, and it's definitely on the Celestials' side right now as Drall takes the drop and Molyn immediately charges for the Manhattan zone, along with Tryco Slatterus._ **

**_Too eager again, and offsides gets called._ **

**_Back to center ice, Wilson against Drall once more. Wilson gets it this time. His flip pass over the blade of Drall gets to Romanoff. Romanoff crosses into Seattle territory just fine, drifting a pass over to Jarvis, who takes it behind the Celestial's net._ **

**_He's checked by Pacle. The puck is open for pick-up by Molyn. Molyn slaps the puck down ice, Slatterus in pursuit this time, getting it before icing would be called._ **

**_Slatterus to Drall, who maneuvers the puck against Wilson. Her deke opens the lane for a shot, but Barton is there._ **

**_Thor Blake picks up the rebound. He passes it out to Romanoff and she takes it behind the Manhattan net to protect it as the rest of her line changes at the same time the Celestials are switching out. Over to Barnes. Barnes back to her as she heads toward the bench, where she sends it cross ice over to Rogers so that she and Stark can make their own change._ **

**_Rogers to Barnes at center ice. Barnes turns toward Stark, but Carrie Proxima clogs his passing lane and gets it on her stick. Barnes takes it back. He centers the feed, but this time it's flipped away by Pacle._ **

**_And now it's Loki Blake for the Celestials on a change. Up the middle, he threads the puck through about four legs and ends up in the Manhattan zone to recover it himself._ **

**_Bruce Banner's check on him gives Barnes an opportunity to steal the puck. He passes to Rogers who takes it into the neutral zone. Proxima tries the same move she gave Barnes, but Rogers passes it over to Stark before she can interfere. Stark chips it deep into the Celestials' zone._ **

**_Barnes is first on it, outskating Loki Blake and Lee Ronan as the Celestials play one of their traditional lines. A body check into the boards by Pacle wipes out Barnes, and now Loki Blake carries the puck with a sleek advance back across the blue line._ **

**_Stark and Loki tussle. Stark sends the puck to Rogers. Rogers takes it back into the Celestial zone, then bounces it around in the corner to Barnes. Barnes skates out to center. He shifts it back to Rogers who shoots. Maw makes the save._ **

**_Behind the net, Thor Blake tries to pass the rebound to Stark, but the play gets busted by Proxima._ **

**_Here's Banner, floating a shot off the deflection. The puck goes in, but Maw got taken down by a couple of bodies and the <red light doesn't go up._ **

**_A penalty gets called instead of the score._ **

**_I believe it's Thor Blake who's going to the box for roughing. From up here, it looked more like Pacle helped him into Maw, but aside from some perfunctory protests from both Thor and Coach Coulson, the penalty stands._ **

**_The Celestials will have the player advantage again._ **

**_Coulson's taking a risk, holding onto his time out instead of calling for a review, but with the game tied and still more than four minutes to play in this period, it's an understandable one._ **

**_We can do a review, however, as we wait for the new face-off._ **

**_We see as Pacle rides Thor Blake in. A little shove and, oh, Thor comes back with a retaliatory elbow and, yeah, that's two minutes against Thor, whether they then dump into Maw or not. Referee Selvig called it right._ **

**_Proxima is called back to the Celestials' bench. A little late on the change by Coach Josh Thanos, swapping Proxima for Alexis Chitauri as the Celestials go to the power play for the fifth time tonight._ **

**_They're one out of four getting a goal so far, with their player advantage._ **

**_Ronan takes the face-off. He passes to Loki. Loki spins around Stark and gets the puck to Alexis Chitauri in the corner. Alexis takes a wrist shot that's stopped by Barton._ **

**_Wilson loses the rebound to Loki. He and Ronan are together behind the net now, spread out, Ronan pushing the puck along the boards._ **

**_It's like the Celestials have forgotten they've got the man advantage; instead killing time behind the net._ **

**_Ronan sends a bad bouncer toward Alexis Chitauri and Romanoff gets the intercept as the Avengers make their change out._ **

**_Too often in tonight's power plays, the Celestials have taken the puck against the boards, looking to make a big play, and end up putting it into an Avenger's stick._ **

**_In the meantime, good work between Jarvis and Romanoff, chewing up the clock out in the neutral zone. There's only 1:08 to go on the Celestials power play._ **

**_The Celestials change their forward unit with Gregor Chitauri, Shaw Crovis and Carrie Proxima coming back out onto the ice._ **

**_Jarvis plays the puck ahead to Wilson, who works it across the blue line into the Celestial defense zone. He passes to Jarvis. Jarvis over to Romanoff. She gives it up to Terrax at 3:29 to go in the period; forty-seven seconds left in the power play._ **

**_Gregor Chitauri drives after Terrax's pass up ice, and spins toward the net. Banner's in front of Gregor and checks him, but a good follow through by Proxima keeps the puck with the Celestials._ **

**_Now to Terrax and then Pacle. Maht Pacle checked by Rogers as the Avengers change lines._ **

**_Rogers makes a good move to get the puck out of the corner without much opposition from Gregor or Pacle. He gets the puck down to the Celestials blue line._ **

**_The Avengers, like in most of the power plays already in the game, have had a real good penalty-kill._ **

**_Gregor Chitauri gets the puck away from Barnes._ **

**_Eighteen seconds remain to the power play._ **

**_Tyros Terrax slaps Gregor Chitauri's pass up to Proxima, who shifts it to Corvis in the slot._ **

**_Shaw Corvis, with a goal on the last power play, feeds it down low. His shot gets broken up by Barnes, who sends it out to the line._ **

**_Terrax takes it away from Stark and passes back to Proxima at the boards. Proxima gets checked by Rogers and the puck squirts out. Pacle has to hustle back for it._ **

**_That takes care of the power play, as the Celestials take only one shot with their player advantage._ **

**_Thor Blake is back in and harassing Gregor Chitauri. Gregor shifts the puck over to Corvis. Corvis drives to the net. He takes a shot! Barton dives for the block. Corvis on the rebound. Shoots again. Barton sliding the other direction for a glove save. This time Gregor beats out Stark and goes for a backhand. He scores!_ **

**_It started with a great pass coming out of the Celestials' end from Pacle, outskating Alcaeus Hercules in for Banner taking a break. Gregor Chitauri got the pickup, then over to Corvis. Corvis shoots once, twice, and while Barton gets in front of the puck, he ends up out of position when Gregor gets the third rebound._ **

**_You've got to be lucky as well as accurate in order to hit that narrow a spot in the net. There wasn't much room that Barton didn't have blocked. But Gregor's backhand took a little spin and came in at a sharp angle. Barton simply couldn't get enough of his stick on the puck to prevent its forward motion from going anywhere but where it was aimed, and that was into the net._ **

**_It's 3-2 Seattle!_ **

**_After winning the face-off, offsides gets called on Manhattan._ **

**_The Celestials suddenly have three goals in this period. They trailed 2-0, but they now lead 3-2._ **

**_The Avengers again on the drop, Rhodes dealing it out to Jocasta. She takes it into the corner and then floats it out into the slot; not enough force on the pass to get it to Wanda Maximoff before Tivan gets the interception._ **

**_Taneleer Tivan over to Dwi Gast and it's a two-on-two against Banner and Rhodes._ **

**_Tivan loses his handle and that allows Banner to step up and chip the puck over the boards into the Celestials' bench._ **

**_Here comes the Avengers' first line with one thirteen left in the second period._ **

**_Rogers controls the drop. He skates the puck into the slot and shoots. It's stopped in front by Maw, and picked up by Pacle. Pacle drives it out to En Dwi Gast in the neutral zone. Dwi Gast to Umman Tarru, who we haven't seen much of tonight as, like Cull, she got banged up in Games 5 and 6, so has only been coming in for one or two offensive plays before getting replaced._ **

**_Tarru drives into the Avengers' zone. She frames up a shot, but has her stick tied up by Stark from behind._ **

**_The Avengers break back, Stark and Rogers, who flips the puck off to Barnes. Barnes back to Rogers. Rogers out to Stark, who shoots. Maw stops that, but Rogers and Barnes are there for the rebound. Rogers scores!_ **

**_I'm just going to say, you do not want to get a wide-open game going with the Manhattan Avengers. They have too much firepower. Guys like Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Bucky Barnes, who will get an assist on this goal._ **

**_At the other end of the ice, the Celestials had an opportunity. Then Tarru got checked by Stark from behind and it's suddenly an Avengers' puck. Rogers drop passed to Barnes, got it back, and then sent it off to Stark. Stark made a good shot that Maw was in the right place to stop, but Barnes shoveled the rebound immediately to Rogers, who was then able to tap it into the short side._ **

**_It's a 3-3 tie with a minute left in the period, and we'll be back after the break._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/55vQEyng) **

**_From the draw, Alexis Chitauri sweeps the puck rink-wide to Loki Blake. Loki drives over the Manhattan line and heads to net, two steps ahead of Pietro Maximoff and Dane Whitman. Loki brakes just before the crease and shoots the puck. Barton gets a piece of it with his stick, but the deflection drops right in front of Lee Ronan and he scores!_ **

**_Lee Ronan right over Barton's shoulder and to the net! Loki and Ronan regain the lead! On the next offensive possession after the Avengers' scored, it suddenly 4-3, Seattle!_ **

**_I have to admit, these Celestials are finally reminding us that they have the best win-loss record since their inception into the League._ **

**_Two goals in ten seconds between Rogers and Ronan._ **

**_Dane Whitman centers for Parker. The puck gets deflected away. Parker shifts on Terrax to reclaim it, then spins out the other way, sending it back to Whitman. Whitman can't get the puck through the sudden traffic._ **

**_Loki Blake gets a steal for the Celestials. He moves in over the line. Takes the shot. It's deflected by the stick of Banner, whose back on the ice on defense with Hercules, as Thor Blake takes a breather. The puck goes into the crowd with forty-four point nine seconds remaining in the second period._ **

**_Clint Barton has had to face a lot of rubber in this game. The Celestials had nine shots on goal in the first period. They have nine also in the second, but the Avengers have been held at just four in this period._ **

**_I would imagine the Celestials' bench is breathing a lot easier right now. But Manhattan's gotten a goal themselves in this period, so no one can say this game is over._ **

**_Now it's Stark for Manhattan with the puck, Hercules clearing the lane before him. Stark moves to the net. Shoots. It bounces off of Maw's glove_ **

**_The Celestials start a rush. Thirty-two point six seconds remaining._ **

**_Maht Pacle to the red line. The puck moves behind the net. Hercules gets chased by Molyn. They come together, giving Slatterus a chance for the puck. To Drall, who gets it by Rogers in the corner. They bump. Slatterus in there again to get the puck._ **

**_Slatterus for the Celestials with twenty-one seconds left. He tries to throw it at the net, but it hits Hercules. Molyn gets it back. He's checked by Rogers._ **

**_The Celestial bench wants a penalty, but there is no call and play continues with thirteen point three seconds counting down._ **

**_Drall wanted a piece of Hercules, but missed the check._ **

**_Here comes Barnes for Manhattan. Bucky Barnes to Thor Blake. Back to Barnes. Sharp-angle shot stopped by Maw. Barnes gets the rebound, but has no Avenger to connect to as time expires in the second period._ **

**_The Avengers go into the third period trailing by one, with the score now 4-3 Seattle on the Auerbach Theatrical Agency scoreboard._ **

**Then:**

"Hey, man, thanks for coming," Tripp said after answering the door. Instead of rolling backward and inviting Steve in, he rolled forward and made the turn to take the ramp down to the specially-equipped van that Peggy had agreed could be painted out in the team colors and logo.

Steve guessed Tripp was ready to go, which was fine with him, since they still had a stop to make on their way. "I was happy to hear from you," Steve responded, catching the set of keys that Tripp tossed his way. "I've been meaning to at least call – "

Tripp waived him off before using his own fob for the van to slide back the side door and lower the hydraulic lift. "You've been busy winning games. I get it. It's not like I've been at a lack for company. At first I thought you guys were coordinating it, but a couple weeks ago, Sam called and asked if he could come over so I could teach him how to make some of Nana's recipes. Steal Nana's recipes more like. His excuse was since I did food prep a couple of times a month, he wanted to see what types of decent meals he could freeze for himself to have available when you guys get back from a road trip." Spinning 180°, Tripp backed onto the lift's extended platform and locked his wheels, before pushing the next button that lifted him up and into the van's cargo area.

Steve waited until the outer door slid back shut before he stepped up and belted himself in behind the driver seat. He'd seen his share of combat, or rather the results of policing an area where half of the people were desperate for your assistance and the other half did their best to prevent you from giving it (generally in the form of snipers, IEDs, and suicide bombers). He'd also spent plenty of time in field camps and hospitals, visiting his soldiers after such attacks, which led him to be better prepared than most of the team to handle what had happened to Tripp. Now, several months later, Steve was still bothered that such a stupid, careless act of driving drunk had taking away a friend's livelihood and had so drastically altered Tripp's future, but he had no problem being around Tripp himself, other than fearing that his amazement over how well Tripp appeared to be coping with the loss of his legs below his knees would just come out sounding condescending and privileged.

Ignoring it seemed the best strategy – or not so much ignoring it, as making sure he treated Tripp no differently than he had previously – and giving his friend the time to do what he needed to, including asking for help if he wanted it, instead of automatically assuming he needed it. It was hard, sometimes, but all he had to remember was it was a hell of a lot harder for Tripp, and that this should never be about Steve himself.

"So he's going on about how Danni and me ought to start one of those food prep companies the Millennials are going crazy over, but it's obvious that he's there to show Danni how smooth he is," Tripp continued as Steve got the van started and into the street.

"Anyway, an hour or so in, doorbell rings and it's Bishop and Barton, come to take me out to lunch. Which, sure, you all could be trying to fake that you aren't taking turns visiting me on a schedule, but there were words exchanged that would have had my grandma going for the soap that sure didn't sound rehearsed."

Tripp's voice was coming through a speaker, though Steve could make out what he was saying without it just as well; the speaker was for when there was a lot more traffic on the road than you found at seven in the morning on a Saturday. Steve would just have to remember to speak normally himself while keeping his eyes forward on the road since that was where the mic was set up, instead of turning to speak over his shoulder.

"I started for the popcorn, ready to sit back and see which one of them was going to kick the other's ass. My bet was on Kate, kicking Barton's for _not_ coordinating and calling ahead despite him claiming she'd said she'd call. Sam was looking daggers at Kate, not for the conflict over food, but because Danni was looking at Kate like Sam was looking at Danni. It only ended when Danni got in all their faces and put her foot down on language and manners before turning on me for not having better friends."

Steve joined in Tripp's laughter; Danni Monroe was as tall or taller than all four of the visitors, had as much muscle-mass as Thor, and had pursued a career in roller derby as Ms. American to put herself through nursing school. She, along with others, answered Tripp's ad for a live-in caregiver that had to be nurse, physical therapist and vocational counselor, and Tripp had cancelled all of the other interviews after he met her. Danni and Tripp had become incredibly close, as was to be expected in the weeks since Tripp was released from the hospital and she'd moved in with him. Steve was happy to hear that she was fitting in with the team as well as with Tripp.

"We don't have a spreadsheet and schedule whose turn it is to visit you next," Steve promised. It sounded like something Stark would have done, but also something Pepper would have talked him out of pursuing, as forcing things only worked for a short time. "Fury and Coulson and Hill aren't keeping track either, so if people are showing up, it isn't out of guilt."

"Well, not team guilt, at least," Tripp responded, but he didn't seem put out. "We'll see how it is six months from now, or a year, but I won't hold any of you to blame. The only ones from my old team who've stopped by are Mack, Bobbi, and Hunter when the Shields were in town. I also got a nice card that everyone signed, and that ficus tree sitting in the front room back home; Izzy doesn't like cut flowers that just die in a few days."

Anything Steve might say here would just be empty promises; it's not like he'd kept in close touch with any of the men from in his command, and they'd served in Afghanistan and Iraq together. People drifted, even when they didn't mean to, especially when their lives headed in different directions. Having Tripp working in some capacity in the front office, as Peggy promised to have available for him should he chose to take it, would keep the team and Tripp in better contact, but there'd still be the management/player divide, which would create its own barriers.

Just one more reason to hope Kaena Temple got a significant number of years in jail for her second DUI with aggravated circumstances.

"So how did that morning end with you and the others?" Steve asked, wanting to get them back to something a lot easier to think about.

"Danni decided we were making enough food to keep everyone in for lunch. Let me tell you, do not take Katie up on an offer to cook anything for you. Girl can't even handle ice, unless she's got her gear on and a goalpost at her back. Clint didn't do too bad, though."

"So I've learned, which is helpful, since I'm not much better than Kate, and Bucky is fine, but has a limited number of things he's willing to fix. We eat out enough on the road that's it nice to have something home-cooked."

Tripp snorted. "When are those two going to just move in together? It's not like they're a secret."

Steve shrugged. "I think part of it's guilt on Bucky's fault. I didn't exactly make it unknown that I resigned my commission to come back and help him, so now he thinks if he moves out, he'll seem ungrateful."

"Well, better that than because either of them are too scared to make the commitment, I suppose." Tripp still sounded put out, but no more than he did when Tony refused to set a date for marrying Pepper. "Life's too short," he added, "but everyone gets weird when I remind them of that."

"Fuck, Tripp," Steve started, but couldn't finish.

"Too soon?"

Steve shook his head, not to agree, exactly, but because no one could be that cool over what had happened to them, without harboring something that was going to blow eventually. He almost called Tripp on it, but chickened out. Today was supposed to be about a possible good thing in Tripp's future, not a counselling session, not that Steve was qualified, anyway.

"I guess not, if it's coming from you. You might want to tone down the gallows humor around Bruce, though. He's already been deposed twice as a witness, and fully intends to be there in court, even if he has to miss some games."

Tripp sighed. "He probably saved my life, but man, I wish he hadn't been there to have to see it. I don't remember most of what happened, or what it looked like. I suppose Bruce won't ever be able to forget. Just one more burden I've put on a friend."

"I wouldn't tell him that, either," Steve said sharply. "Friends are not – "

" – burdens, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I know. I believe it, too, when I'm on the other side. And I'm alright, before you ask. Just feeling a little sorry for myself, but it's probably nerves more than depression. Today's pretty important, but I'm still not sure I should have been given a try-out. The rest of the guys, they're gonna be soldiers and first responders and shit, who lost limbs or mobility saving lives. I'm just a jock who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Actually, I think they want you to be their ringer," Steve mentioned. "Yeah, it's New York, so lots of kids grow up playing ice or street hockey, probably including them, but to say they've got someone from the NAHL on their team? You could really raise the profile of sled hockey and para-sports in general. Assuming you turn out to be any good, of course," Steve added.

"Oh, you are on, mon capitaine. Once we get there, you and I, on opposite teams. I'll even give you Bruce and whoever else we're picking up, so you've got the comfort of knowing your teammates, while I get the pick-up team. We'll see which one of us is any good."

***

Steve's team got their asses kicked. But he also got to see Tripp get asked to join the sled hockey team and Tripp saying yes. The acceptance and resiliency of the players so humbled Thor that he asked if the others would mind waiting a few minutes so he could place a phone call he didn't want to wait on – to his father, who he'd not spoken to since leaving Tromsø eighteen months ago. Bruce certainly didn't mind, as he was just as much in awe of the other players, and was asking a few of them how they managed their anger and depression over the incidents that had caused their disabilities. As for Steve, he made an appointment to talk to Peggy. There were sled hockey teams all across the country, or would be if they had the proper funding. The Avengers could make that happen for the Scrappers.

**Now:**

**_At the end of the first period, the Avengers led 2-0. By the end of the second, the Celestials not only managed to tie the Avengers, but take their own lead at 4-3 here in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals._ **

**_I have to say; this game is going a lot like the series has, with the lead changing back and forth repeatedly just when one of the teams thought they could relax. The fans and viewers are definitely getting their money's worth tonight._ **

**_Trailing by one, the Avengers put their first line in at the start of the final period, no change-ups; just going with their best scorers of the season. And, for what I believe is their first time tonight, so do the Celestials, Coach Thanos restoring the first line skaters that got them into the playoffs._ **

**_Rogers wins the drop. Passes to Stark. Stark back to Rogers. Over to Barnes, who drives past Gregor Chitauri and into the Seattle defense zone, trying to reclaim the momentum the Avengers lost in the last minute of the second._ **

**_Barnes scores! Oh, my!_ **

**_Just nineteen seconds into the period and bang, Bucky Barnes has tied the game at four._ **

**_Gregor Chitauri got outskated, then Maht Pacle stutter-stepped and got turned around, away from the charging Barnes. When Barnes saw that, he just bolted up the middle and fed it between the right foot of Lawlor Maw and the goal post._ **

**_Just that quickly._ **

**_Beautiful pass and through the legs of Lawlor Maw._ **

**_Stark and Rogers pick up the assists on that goal by Barnes at the nineteen second mark of the third period. Back after this commercial break._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/qQrLeQ0Y) **

**_Here's Romanoff, unable to get one to the net._ **

**_Barely past the opening face-off, the Avengers tied the game and now they're buzzing in the Celesitials' zone again, looking for the go-ahead goal._ **

**_Sam Wilson to Jarvis behind the net. Jarvis springs off a check, keeps the puck. Out to Banner._ **

**_Banner takes a shot that's deflected wide. Romanoff on the rebound. She's checked into the glass. Loki Blake with the puck and he slams it out of the zone._ **

**_Jorvis and Lee Ronan chase after it. Proxima is in there as well, with Wilson. Proxima gets control and decides to provide a souvenir for a fan here at the SSR Arena, as the puck goes sailing over the glass._ **

**_I think a delay of game penalty could have been called there but play resumes with another face-off._ **

**_Wilson against Ronan. Wilson takes the drop. Banner on the pickup, spinning it around the boards to Natasha Romanoff. Romanoff gets the puck out to the slot and Paul Jarvis. Jarvis centers and shoots. Maw falls on it._ **

**_Jarvis took the shot right out in front of Maw for an easy save. Still, the Celestials seem to be scrambling to cover the open players of Manhattan in front of Maw._ **

**_Unlike most goalies, Lawlor Maw backs completely into the net before each face-off. His skates are behind the goal line. If he were to catch a puck in his glove the way he's standing right now, it'd be a goal._ **

**_It's a superstition; a comfort-level thing. Part of why Maw is called the Forcefield. It's an illusion, of course, but it does allow Maw to check out the angles when he lines himself up at the edge of the crease._ **

**_Underway again, Alexis Chitauri backhands the puck out to Loki Blake as we are two minutes ten seconds into the third period. Loki loses it to Barnes. Barnes over to Stark. Tony Stark leaves it behind the net for Rogers. Rogers takes it out. Lee Ronan gets Rogers off the puck, but it's Barnes behind the net trying to find Rogers again, and he does. Rogers shoots!_ **

**_Maw's got that. Stark gets the rebound as he springs free of Loki and takes a shot. What a great effort by Stark!_ **

**_What a stop by Lawlor Maw, too. Caught it in his glove that time._ **

**_Bucky Barnes battling Loki again behind the net. He's not facing up the ice. Takes two attempts to get it to Rogers. There's the pass to Stark in front. Awkward-looking but, of course, Rogers got the job done._ **

**_Stark trying to loft it into the top of the net, shrugging off the vigorous attempt of Gregor Chitauri to get in his way._ **

**_A time-out gets called._ **

**_Josh Thanos is not afraid to take his time-out whenever he feels that the club needs it. And right now, with Barnes scoring nineteen seconds into the third period and Manhattan keeping control of the puck with a drive to regain a lead that they had back in the first period, it looks like now, with three and a half minutes down in the third period, is that time._ **

**_At the bench, it appears that Coach Thanos is accusing his team of skating to wherever the puck is, while forgetting about the loose players left open. Perhaps not quite as curse-free. The Celestials rarely play a zone defense, as Thanos prefers his players to stay on their opponents, but he's not getting either type of play right now from his team._ **

**_While we wait, let's take a look at that last save._ **

**_Barnes is behind the net. Number 19 in the dark jersey is Steve Rogers. Barnes tried to get it to him, but the puck gets taken away by Loki. Barnes steals it back and tries for Rogers again. He's successful this time, and then Rogers twists himself into a pretzel to get the puck to Stark. Who makes a chip shot to the top of the net that gets gloved by Lawlor Maw._ **

**_Back to the face-off. En Dwi Gast takes the drop. Maht Pacle gets a piece of the puck that then gets picked up by Tivan. Jarvis loses his stick as he tries to tie up Tivan, allowing Tivan to move the puck to Proxima. She, in turn gets checked by Romanoff in the slot._ **

**_They chase the puck into the boards, where Proxima is outskated and gets tripped up by Romanoff again._ **

**_No penalty is called._ **

**_Romanoff's got the puck._ **

**_She shifts it to Bruce Banner, at left point. He sails it behind the net. The puck gets caught on the twine long enough to necessitate a face-off._ **

**_So we'll step out with the Avengers and Celestials even at four as you take a look at the Auerbach Theatrical Agency scoreboard._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/qRrx6Vve) **

**_With 15:42 left to play in the third period, the Avengers and Celestials are in a 4-4 tie._ **

**_Here's one of the two Number 13s in the hockey game tonight as Natasha Romanoff takes position in the face-off circle for the first time this game. She got the first Avenger goal, back early in the first period._ **

**_Ummon Tarru wins the face-off. She comes in across the Manhattan line, hemmed in by Paul Jarvis, giving Sam Wilson the opportunity to take the puck now for Manhattan._ **

**_Wilson gets back to center ice. Passes to Romanoff. Romanoff to Jarvis at the Celestials' blue line. Over to Wilson. The Celestials are managing the one-on-one and covering their opponents, keeping the play away from the crease._ **

**_Wilson crosses to the left, leaving the puck for Jarvis, who tries to pass to Romanoff as she breaks free from Tarru and gets out ahead. Terrax checks Romanoff just as her stick connects. The puck bounces loose, with Banner, Tarru and Dwi Gast now coming in to contend for it._ **

**_Tarru takes control long enough to flip it out to Tivan. Tivan and Jarvis fight over it at center ice. Dwi Gast with a pick up, and he takes it in._ **

**_Lines up, shoots – Barton slaps it down._ **

**_Bucky Barnes gets the rebound on a quick line change. He slips it through Terrax's legs, but Terrax manages a hip check and the puck spins away. Rogers takes it up. He sends it around the boards to Stark behind the net._ **

**_En Dwi Gast, along with Umman Tarru and Taneleer Tivan, have played as the Celestials' third line for most of the season. They're back together here as Dwi Gast gets the intercept on Stark's pass out to Barnes. Dwi Gast sends it to Tarru, who bounces it straight off of Barton's glove._ **

**_Dwi Gast gets it back. He glides toward the corner and twists to take a shot. Again Barton makes the save._ **

**_Maht Pacle on the rebound this time. He makes a drive toward the net that's blocked by Alcaeus Hercules, still in for Donald 'Thor' Blake._ **

**_Barnes makes a steal and shoots it back to Hercules, who drop passes it to Rogers and we're at fourteen minutes, two seconds left in the game with a tied score._ **

**_Rogers drives down the ice in a 1 on 1 against Gregor Chitauri as the Celestials make a line change. His shot is stopped by Maw._ **

**_Gregor takes control of the puck and puts it into the Manhattan zone. Barton takes it behind the net where it's picked up by Hercules._ **

**_Hercules passes it up to Wilson, now in with the second line. Wilson out to Romanoff. She gets hemmed in by Terrax and Alexis Chitarui, misses on the pass that was supposed to get to Jarvis. The puck is free and being chased by a handful of players out at center ice._ **

**_Tyros Terrax now with the puck. He passes to Gregor Chitauri just before Gregor crosses into the Avengers' zone. Gregor snaps a shot off of Banner, regains the puck and passes over to Pacle. Pacle's attempt to reach Ronan gets blocked by Thor Blake retaking his position from Hercules._ **

**_Romanoff swings around the two bruisers and gets the puck. She passes to Jarvis as they charge down the ice. Jarvis misses Wilson and now Ronan sends the puck back the other way to Pacle. Pacle gets it to Loki Blake, who chips it back to Ronan. Over to Pacle. Pacle drives toward the net. Banner is there and deflects the puck toward Romanoff. She makes a quick pass to Wilson who's being draped by Loki. Loki spills onto the ice and a whistle blows._ **

**_Penalty coming up, but I'm not sure what's going to be called or who it will be against._ **

**_For all of Loki's theatrics, it looks like the penalty is called on Banner, who got Pacle tied up in front of Barton and the goal. Interference gets called and it will be Banner in for two minutes, giving the Celestials yet another power play for the night, with 13:38 remaining in the game._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/BZIGbJP4) **

**_The Celestials have scored only once on the power play, but they scored four times during the last period, three of those goals played against the Avengers at full strength._ **

**_Shaw Corvis connects on the face-off and gets the puck to Pacle. Pacle over to Terrax. Terrax sends it down into the Avengers' zone with. Proxima chasing. Barton twirls it around the back of the net. Wilson misses the pickup. Proxima doesn't. She passes to Terrax._ **

**_His pass to Corvis is blocked and cleared down the ice by Natasha Romanoff._ **

**_Maw fields the puck and leaves it for Pacle._ **

**_The Avengers are changing, but the Celestials are unable to get the puck back up into the Manhattan zone in time to exploit it, so Pacle just plays it hard around._ **

**_Proxima with the puck again. She gets checked and spun around by Thor Blake._ **

**_Thanos is roaring for another penalty call but doesn't get one_ **

**_Thor has the puck. He passes up ahead to Barnes. Barnes dekes Ronan and shoots. Pad save made by Maw, who leaves a healthy rebound. Which is all Barnes wanted as the Avengers work the penalty kill._ **

**_That's what's so hard about checking Barnes. Ronan stayed right with him, keeping in front of him, but Barnes has been remarkable this season. He's been a good player all of his career, but with his injury nearly two years ago – coming back from such a significant one – Barnes has become a smarter player, with new tricks in his arsenal to replace the little bit of strength that he's lost._ **

**_Remember the first goal Barnes scored back in the first period on the long shot? It went through the feet of Lawlor Maw. And then he scored another goal at nineteen seconds into this final period, and he put that one through a sliver of ice between Maw's right foot and the goal post with a sniper's procession._ **

**_Now watch what he does here on the replay. Barnes stops quickly and then fires it. Look where he's firing it – skimming just on the surface of the ice, down at Lawlor Maw's feet again. You don't think that Bucky Barnes didn't spend some of his rehabilitation making a study of goaltenders and where the puck beats them?_ **

**_Ronan takes the puck behind his own net, then charges around with pass out to Alexis Chitauri with twelve minutes to go in the final period in the final game for the Stanley Cup. The Celestials are on the power play for just another twenty-two seconds._ **

**_Alexis Chitauri passes up to Loki. He gets stick checked by Steve Rogers. Loki recovers the puck and sends it out to Alexis at the red line. Alexis back to Loki. Loki drives into the Avenger defense zone. He's checked by his brother into the boards, the puck sailing free._ **

**_Stark hustles over to clear the zone, and that'll take care of the power play as Bruce Banner is up and out of the box back onto the ice, as is the Celestials second line in a change-over._ **

**_Dwi Gast for the Celestials connecting with a pass by Banner intended for Barnes. Tyros Terrax plays it down the boards as he's checked by Stark._ **

**_A bit of a mismatch there, as Terrax probably outweighs Stark by at least fifty pounds, but there's a lot of hidden strength in Stark._ **

**_The Celestials keep the puck as Pacle picks it up at the red line. Pacle to Gregor Chitauri. Gregor goes down from a clean slam by Thor Blake. The puck spins around to the far side. Terrax jumps in to keep it, and comes around the net. Thor again gets in the way, so Dwi Gast comes in to play the puck._ **

**_Dwi Gast gets pushed off the puck by Pietro Maximoff as the Avengers make a line change. Parker and Tivan race for it. Off of one of their sticks, it squirts free to Gregor Chitauri. Gregor to Dwi Gast. Back to Gregor. It bounces off of his skate._ **

**_Gregor, trying to stick-handle the bouncer, doesn't see Pietro Maximoff come up from behind. Pietro gets control of the puck and flips it to Whitman. Whitman and Pietro race toward the net, trading it back and forth. The Celestials have defenders there. Pietro's shot goes wide as he's hit by Pacle. Pacle puts the puck around the boards._ **

**_Gregor Chitauri on the pickup. He chips the puck past Parker and sends it out of the zone as we approach the ten minute mark remaining in the third period, tied at four._ **

**_Gregor tried to get it to the corner as the Celestials changed lines. Barton gloved it down. That allows the Avengers to start a rush with their own new line._ **

**_Romanoff gains the zone. She leaves it in the slot for Jarvis. Tarru gets a piece of it, but Jarvis takes it back. His pass to Wilson is blocked by Terrax._ **

**_Terrax has played pretty well tonight. He's probably won himself a spot on the roster for next season._ **

**_Romanoff shoots the puck. Denied by Maw._ **

**_The rebound comes behind the net. The Celestials get it down the ice._ **

**_They'll take an icing here._ **

**_Third period of a 4-4 tie in this final game for the Stanley Cup, there is nine minutes and twenty-six seconds remaining._ **

**_The network's placed an isolated camera on Natasha Romanoff on that last offensive. She wastes no energy. Knows where to go, when not to go. She's watching all the time, and look where she is when she takes her last shot. Completely open, but Maw makes a hell of a stop._ **

**_The Avengers send in their top line for the face-off. Goodness! Stark scores right off the face-off! Rogers got the drop and did a quick chop to Barnes. Barnes slips it to Stark, who centers and shoots, beating Maw at the net. The Avengers lead it 5-4!_ **

**_Barnes pulled that puck cleanly to Stark, who beat Lawlor Maw inside the right goal post. Again, here's the draw. Rogers to Barnes to Stark and wham! Just that quickly._ **

**_That's each of the top line for the Avengers with at least one goal tonight, Stark getting his at 10:36 in the third and final period._ **

**_Rhodes' line comes on for the new face-off at center ice. Up against the Celestial standard first line. Shaw Corvis takes the puck and passes to Alexis Chitauri. Wanda Maximoff with the steal. She sends it over the Celestials' blue line, Jocasta in quick pursuit. So are Gregor Chitauri and Terrax._ **

**_Wanda sends it around the boards to Rhodes. Rhodey spins over toward the net and tries a shot around Terrax. We get a whistle._ **

**_A penalty: interference at the net. On Tyros Terrax, who appears to be getting a little anxious, a little frustrated. The Celestials have fallen behind and will now have to defend against the top power play conversion team in the League._ **

**_Horrible timing for the Celestials, and a good example of Terrax's inexperience._ **

**_Look at Barnes and Rogers, there on the bench. They're just like little kids in their delight. Who says that major league players don't get excited?_ **

**_Barnes said before the game this morning that he's never felt stronger, never felt better with the regimen that he's on physically, or with playing the game for Manhattan. Of course, who wouldn't be, with the team taking their conference, then the division, and now leading in the final game for the Stanley Cup. Not bad for the inaugural year of an expansion club made up with the players the other teams didn't mind losing._ **

**_Even Stark is sitting on the bench looking energized after getting the go-ahead goal._ **

**_Now it's the Celestials, who have had a lot of time on the power play with six including the last four penalties in a row against the Avengers, who have to defend against the Manhattan player advantage unit for the next two minutes._ **

**_Here's Romanoff in the slot. Pacle takes it away from her with a brutal check, but you couldn't tell  it with how quickly Romanoff's back up on her skates and going after the puck as Pacle clears it from the zone._ **

**_So you got Romanoff, Jarvis, and Wilson up front. Banner one point, Thor Blake the other for Manhattan._ **

**_The Celestials have Ronan and Tivan as the forwards. Pacle, along with Gregor Chitauri, playing deep._ **

**_Taneleer Tivan gets spun around by Jarvis and loses the puck. Tivan tries to draw the penalty, but nothing doing._ **

**_Here's Jarvis with a chance. He misses upstairs. Wilson takes it around the boards. Passes to Romanoff._ **

**_Romanoff chops it to Thor. Thor tries to get it to Jarvis but the puck hops over his stick. Still, Jarvis retrieves it behind the net and sends it back out to Romanoff._ **

**_Romanoff to Wilson. Wilson takes it to the slot but the puck gets flicked away by Gregor Chitauri. Jarvis hustles to keep the play alive. He pokes it back to Wilson. Romanoff from Wilson who's holding a broken stick. Romanoff with a backhander! She scores!_ **

**_A power play goal for Romanoff, and the Avengers take a 6-4 lead with just over nine minutes remaining in the finals of the Stanley cup._ **

**_Romanoff looked to give the puck to Jarvis on that last exchange, but the Celestials had him covered. So she took it herself through the Celestials' defensive wall out to the front of the net._ **

**_Before that, Jarvis did the work to keep the play alive deep in the Celestials' end. Then Wilson broke his stick getting the puck to Romanoff. No one else but Romanoff could have managed the graceful slide through maybe six inches of air between Gregor Chitauri and Pacle to then get a backhand shot past Lawlor Maw._ **

**_Two goal lead now for Manhattan. Two goals in one minute and twenty-seven seconds. Time now becomes a factor in this game._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/tTpkAfRn)**

**_The Avengers are finally playing the game that brought them here in their first year of existence. They turn, they move, they see and take advantage or adapt to everything that's going on._ **

**_With 9:09 to go in this final period and the Avengers leading by two, James Rhodes takes the puck at center ice. He drops it back to Banner at his own blue line. Banner sends it over to Pietro Maximoff, who for the first time tonight is playing the same line as his twin, as Coulson mixes up his lines._ **

**_Pietro passes it to Wanda. She moves down toward the net, but Pacle holds her off. Tivan steals the puck but can't clear and Rhodey ends up with it._ **

**_Rhodes bounces it behind the net. Pietro reaches for it, but gets roughed up by Pacle. Wanda comes away with the puck. She passes it off to Banner. Back toward Wanda. But it's Umman Tarru intercepting, hitting the puck back for the Celestials._ **

**_Tarru doesn't get it past the stick check of Pietro, who gets the puck back for Manhattan. Pietro over to Rhodes. Pacle intercepts. And gets checked by Parker as the Avengers change lines._ **

**_Jocasta has the puck and takes a shot. Maw gets his stick to it. Whitman takes the rebound. He shifts it to the corner, where Jocasta returns it to the far side. Shaw Corvis controls it first and lifts it out of the Celestials' zone as they make their own line change._ **

**_It's been all Manhattan from the nineteen second mark of this period, when Bucky Barnes jumped up and scored his second goal of the night._ **

**_Peter Parker with a steal, but he loses an edge and the Celestials come away with the puck._ **

**_Shaw to Alexis Chitauri back toward center ice. Alexis with a pass to his brother Gregor. Thor Blake with a big check on Gregor, but Alexis recovers the puck before Jocasta can get control._ **

**_Alexis out to Shaw. Shaw spins around Whitman and passes cross-ice to Gregor Chitauri who glides it across the Avenger blue line._ **

**_Gregor checked again into the boards, this time by Banner as Gregor slid the puck into the zone. The Avengers turn it around, with a three-on-two and a line change._ **

**_Stark carries the puck. He passes, ignoring the closer man in Rogers, for Barnes. Barnes sprays ice as he slows and takes a quick shot into Maw's right pad. The rebound sails over the net._ **

**_Stark reclaims it and passes to Rogers. Now to Barnes! Another shot and again a good deflection by Maw._ **

**_Gregor Chitauri gets control of the puck and dumps it from behind the net out into the neutral zone._ **

**_Rogers and the just in Dwi Gast chase for it._ **

**_Rogers gets taken down by Pacle. En Dwi Gast's now with the puck, but Barnes sweeps it out of his control and over to Stark._ **

**_Stark back to Barnes. Barnes takes it over the Celestials' blue line before passing back to Stark. Stark can't part the wall like Romanoff did, and it's Taneleer Tivan coming away with the puck as Terrax leaves Stark sprawling across the ice._ **

**_Here's Carrie Proxima with a drive to the net off of Tivan's pass. The puck is steered aside by Barton. Tivan on the rebound. Cross ice for Pacle. Pacle winds up for a slapshot into the net. Barton throws his body in front of it for the save._ **

**_Oh, that's going to leave its mark! It looks like Barton's intervention had the puck slamming into a spot between his shoulder and body pad, where there is only the Wakandan body armor to absorb and disburse the kinetic energy of a puck going upwards of seventy miles an hour_ **

**_Thor Blake and Dwi Gast fight for possession as Barton's a little slow in regaining his feet. Dwi Gast gets control and finds Proxima. Back to Tivan. Barton, screened by both Dwi Gast and Pacle – and no doubt still smarting from the Pacle's shot on goal – still gets a piece of the puck, but can't get it out before the puck takes a Celestial bounce in over the goal line._ **

**_Taneleer Tivan, at the doorstep, brings the Celestials within 1, with 5:13 left to go._ **

**_Vintage Tivan, down and dirty in front of the net._ **

**_The Celestials handled the puck well. So, too, had Barton, right up until he couldn't get enough of his glove on it. First the shot by Proxima, low and hard. Barton got his stick there in time, even if the rebound went to Tivan. Tivan off to Pacle, whose slap shot hit Barton like a bullet in one of the lesser protected areas on his body. Then the rebound with Thor and Dwi Gast duking it out, and Dwi Gast's hop with the puck back to Tivan, who I don't know that Barton could even see as the 6'4" Dwi Gast joined with Pacle to block Barton's view of most of the rink._ **

**_I believe that Barton would have still been able to make the save, had he not gotten hit by Pacle's line drive just moments before. But Barton did, and the puck bounced into the net to give Taneleer Tivan his third goal in the finals._ **

_**Most importantly, for the Celestials at least, is they are within one of Manhattan, with just over five minutes remaining in the game. The score is 6-5 on the Auerbach Theatrical Agency scoreboard, as we take a break.** _

**[](http://imgbox.com/1BDtUSmR) **

**_We will have to see if the momentum had truly shifted to the Celestials. They looked good on that last offensive, but it's been the Avengers who've been explosive this period; who've controlled the game despite the Tivan goal._ **

**_The Celestials take control of the face-off. Loki Blake quickly moves the puck into the Manhattan zone. Coach Thanos isn't keeping to his offensive lines, but has now put in the players that have made the better plays this game._ **

**_Loki to Pacle, who drives toward the crease! Good save by Barton, dumping the puck back to the corner._ **

**_Carrie Proxima and Tivan both move behind the net, but it's Banner with the puck. He passes to Romanoff. She quickly takes the play out of the defensive zone. To the Celestials' line, but she loses it on a stick check. Sam Wilson gets it back._ **

**_He fans on it; Terrax and Proxima both moving on him. But Proxima is unable to get it past Jarvis. She recovers the puck and passes to Pacle on the other side. Only, there's Romanoff off the stick check to take it away from him. Pacle retaliates with a check that sends her into the boards in a heavy slam. The puck shoots out onto Tivan's stick._ **

**_Tivan gets it back into the Manhattan defensive zone and tries to dump it in from the line. Barton twirls it around the boards. Could have given it to one of his defensive men but didn't as the Avengers work to eat up every second of the clock._ **

**_The Celestials can't hold it at the point and it comes back to the Seattle blue line; Dwi Gast unable to get it past Stark as both lines change. Dwi Gast recovers and flips it back to Pacle. Pacle advances it to the Manhattan line._ **

**_Celestials now have Dwi Gast, Gregor Chitauri, and Endri Drall up front playing right wing, with Pacle and Terrax in back._ **

**_Pacle's floater is stopped in front and swept out of the zone by Tony Stark, giving Pacle as good a check as the one Pacle used to take Romonoff out of the play at the 4:03 mark. Gregor Chitauri picks it up and passes to Drall, who can't chip it out._ **

**_Bucky Barnes steals it away and drives down the ice, powering past Drall and spinning around Pacle. He pitches the puck at the net. Maw, on his knees, gets a piece of it to send the rebound into the corner._ **

**_Terrax and Thor fight for possession, neither gaining traction. Drall moves in to assist Terrax, but chops it straight over to Rogers. Rogers out to Stark. Stark back around the boards over to Barnes, eating up that time._ **

**_Barnes' pass to Rogers goes astray on a bad bounce off churned up ice. Drall gets control of the puck and slams it over to En Dwi Gast. Dwi Gast sends it to Gregor Chitauri, who takes it out to center._ **

**_Over to Drall. Endri Drall tries to play it to Dwi Gast. Actually, Dwi Gast wanted to touch the puck, but couldn't, or else it would have been a hand pass in the neutral zone._ **

**_Time's a-wasting for the Celestials. 2:53 to go._ **

**_Gregor Chitauri takes control of the puck and drops it to Pacle. Only Pacle isn't there and Tony Stark is._ **

**_Stark loses it to Terrax. Gets it back. Passes to Rogers._ **

**_The Avengers' first line move into the Celestials' defensive zone. Rogers flips it to Barnes. He scores his third goal of the night to take Manhattan to a 7-5 lead!_ **

**_James 'Bucky' Barnes has scored the first hat trick in the Cup finals since Carol Danvers did it for the Dallas Novas twenty-one years ago. It's his third hat trick for the season. You saw him dancing on his skates all throughout this season, and Coach Coulson has utilized him perfectly tonight. His teammates knew when to get him the puck, and he knew what to do with it._ **

**_And you know where that puck went in? Between the feet of Lawlor Maw._ **

**[](http://imgbox.com/ljl9I6uv) **

**_At 2:03 left in the final period of the final game this season, Steve Rogers made one of his patented turning passes over to Bucky Barnes, and wham! Barnes becomes one of four players who have a hat trick in the Stanley Cup finals, to give the Avengers a 7-5 lead over the Celestials._ **

**_Watch the replay on the Auerbach scoreboard. What a great athlete. No one can claim that Bucky Barnes hasn't reclaimed his place on the ice. Found a new home in Manhattan._ **

**_Here's Rogers getting the puck back to him, and look at the position of Barnes' head. Always up. He knows exactly where's he's going to shoot the puck, and he can put it there with a sniper's accuracy. This is Barnes' third hat trick of the season, seventeenth hat trick overall of his career in the NAHL._ **

**_Rogers and Stark drew the assists on Barnes' goal at 17:57 of the third period._ **

**_We're now at 18:19, and here's Romanoff gliding into the Seattle defense zone looking for more for her team. She makes a slip pass to Wilson. Wilson aims between the legs, too, but Maw gets a piece of it._ **

**_Jarvis reclaims the puck on the boards and flips it back to Wilson. Wilson centers one that hits the post and bounces right back out to Romanoff. With two players now moving on her, she whirls and sends the puck into the corner before ending up on her ass on the ice._ **

**_That's the best defense anybody can have against Natasha Romanoff – stare her in the eyes, make her fall, and hope you don't draw a penalty._ **

**_Banner takes control of the puck behind the net with 1:36 to go. This one's sent all the way down. Manhattan will be hit with an icing call as Pacle touches up._ **

**_What do you do when your team scores five goals in the last game of the Stanley Cup finals and you don't have the lead?_ **

**_Well, Lawlor Maw is still in at the Celestials' net. We'll see when Josh Thanos pulls him for an extra skater. The Celestials have to keep the puck deep in the Manhattan zone after the face-off._ **

**_But it's the Avengers with possession after the face-off, so Maw stays put._ **

**_Thor Blake takes the puck out of the Manhattan zone. He connects with Wanda Maximoff at the red line. Maximoff to Jocasta. They drive into the Celestials' end of the Ice._ **

**_Loki Blake gets a steal. To Pacle, who gets checked by Rhodes on the approach to the final minute of play and possibly one more accolade for the Avengers in their historic first year of play._ **

**_Lee Ronan beats out Wanda for control._ **

**_We're down to the 1:00 mark._ **

**_Ronan's pass hits the back of Alexis Chitauri's skate, so Alexis has to reach back and do a little pirouette to get it on his stick before he heads up the ice into Manhattan's zone._ **

**_Alexis takes it to the corner. Now to Loki. Loki tries to get it to Ronan. Loki's stopped cold by Banner. The puck slides all the way back to Pacle._ **

**_Pacle sends it behind the net to Ronan._ **

**_Forty seconds to go._ **

**_Ronan out to Loki, who rifles it to Alexis Chitauri. Alexis in the slot._ **

**_Maw is moving to the bench._ **

**_Alexis shoots wide. Ronan with the pickup and deflection toward Loki in front of Barton. Loki takes a shot! Barton pushes it away._ **

**_The Celestials' extra skater is Gregor Chitauri. Their net is empty. They're down 7-5, with twenty-two seconds left._ **

**_Loki Blake back in before Barton. Slips it over to Ronan. Ronan shoots! Deflected off of Barton's stick._ **

**_Terrax takes it around to the far side, keeping possession for the Celestials._ **

**_13.4._ **

**_Jarvis intercepts the pass from Terrax to Gregor Chitauri. Pacle checks him into the boards, preventing Jarvis from aiming at that empty net._ **

**_But it's not going to matter. Final 6.3 seconds of the game._ **

**_Gregor Chitauri out to Loki Blake. He takes a Hail Mary shot from the blue line. Barton closes his glove on it and the Avengers have done something no other team, in no other professional sport has ever managed._ **

**_The horn blows. It's official. 7-5 Manhattan, to take Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals._ **

**_The Manhattan Avengers have won the Stanley Cup in their inaugural year as an expansion club! A team of players nobody felt it necessary to keep, with a second-string coach and a support staff of mostly college coaches and trainers, a General Manager that's more known for his intimidation factor than his skills, and the only woman to own a professional sports team on her own by something other than an inheritance, has beat the best team in the NAHL. The winningest team in NAHL history._ **

**_The Avengers beat the book makers too. 400-to-1 odds at the announcement that Manhattan would get the expansion team, then 500-to-1 after the draft of players few had heard of, and the additional signing of players who hadn't even held a stick the year before._ **

**_When this becomes a Hollywood movie, I just hope they get my name right. I'm Edwin Jarvis, also known as the Voice of the Avengers. I bid you adieu from my box in the Strategic Scientific Reserve Arena. Stay tuned for more from Rick Jones and his in-booth guest, the legendary Carol Danvers, as we wait for the trophy presentations, and interviews from the locker room. Speaking for the entire Avengers organization, we hope to see you back here next year._ **

**After:**

Clint had little chance to realize what catching the puck meant before he was rushed by his teammates already on the ice. He barely had the time or presence of mind to drop his stick and blocking glove – and somehow manage to transfer the puck into his bared hand – before he was inundated and overwhelmed. The goalpost moved behind him and he somehow ended up on his ass, but in the next instant he was being pulled up and hugged within an inch of his life by both Bucky and Natasha. An explosion of sound broke over them from the fans and from their teammates: _thank yous_ and _oh my Gods_ and _I can't fucking believe we did it_ and _Holy shit, we won!_

They'd won.

Feeling mostly relief and exhaustion, Clint also realized he'd never felt more satisfied in his life than in this moment. Not even after sex. Not even after really, really good sex with Bucky. He basked in the glow and let himself be pulled further into the chaos. Even during the Olympics, he'd experienced only a fraction of this kind of outpouring of emotion and comradery. Their celebrations then had been just as much bittersweet as it had been heartening, since they'd all known it would be unlikely they'd keep in touch afterward – that they'd be lucky if even a quarter of them ended up staying in hockey.

When the Avengers had come in first in their conference, then also won the division, the team had celebrated, of course, both on the ice and then afterward. Only the job wasn't done, and good as it had been, those moments had been pale nothings compared to what right now felt like. It was exhilarating, was absolutely fucking surreal, and it felt like the entire world was celebrating the Avengers' victory – with some obvious and understandable exceptions.

Being on _that_ end, now that was something Clint had had plenty of experience with, not that the Wonders had ever made it past the first round of playoffs. (Actually, the Wonders held the record in how many times they had lost in the first round of the playoffs. Twenty-six times in the fifty-one years the club had been in existence. The only team close to that was the Las Vegas Jokers, who'd done the same seventeen times, but they had also advanced to the finals three times, and had won the Cup once.)

Truthfully, Clint wasn't sure he'd have felt quite this much even if they Wonders had made it to the finals, and then won. Not because he would have most likely still been riding the bench and not really contributed to the win, but because the Wonders weren't so much a team as a group of people who needed each other to achieve whatever it was that got them into playing hockey in the first place. The Wonders certainly weren't anything close to being friends; not just willing to do things off the ice together, but wanting to, like it was as an Avenger.

That's what Clint was, now. An Avenger. Also a part of history that could never be taken away from them, no matter who stayed on the team next year, and no matter what their record ended up being.

He let someone help him take off his face mask so they could touch his head; something that had become a thing about half way through the season after each win – and sometimes even before a game, though everyone was superstition enough not to have jinxed things by doing it before the game once the playoffs had started.

When it started to look like Hill was going to bully them into forming the handshake line, Clint gave both Bucky and Natasha a quick kiss and extracted himself, not just from them, but from the rest of his teammates. Something that was easier said than done, but he was a man on a mission.

"Coulson!" Clint called out when he'd finally gotten close enough to be heard, after skating around the obstacles of sticks and gloves that littered the ice. He didn't give a damn that there was a microphone in the coach's face, and a rolling camera nearby. Jones looked initially pissed at being interrupted, then curious when he identified the interruption as Clint.

More importantly, however, Coulson actually looked a little relieved, if Clint was reading him correctly.

"Clint," Coulson responded with a minute tilt of his chin and a larger smile than Clint had ever seen him sport before.

"I think this belongs to you," Clint told him, handing over the final game puck.

Later, when Clint tried to put the day's events in perspective, the satisfaction he got from being the first person on the team to render Coulson speechless would come in ranked at number three.

***

Maria had always appreciated the handshake line at the end of a playoff game. It reaffirmed her belief that people were mostly good. Okay, sometimes it also reaffirmed that some people were just assholes, but by and large she thought it was a good tradition, and did a lot to remind the teams that it takes the both of them to make a good game. It was about respect to an opponent for a battle well fought. And about looking the other person in the eye and reminding them that you're not just an interchangeable jersey and stick, or a just an anonymous suit.

Despite all of that, she'd never been sure about the tradition continuing through to the last game of the Stanley Cup. It sucked to lose anytime, of course, but after four, five, six or seven games against the same players and having to suck it up and not give it to the opponent that might have said something, or who slammed you into the boards one too many times …

It was hard enough being on the winning side of the line and not preening, just a little bit, when faced by a legion of resentment.

Her opinions on the merits or detriment of the line didn't matter, of course, because it was part of her job to get her team to pulled themselves into some resemblance of a line, if for no other reason than to let the Celestials get back to their dressing room and not have to listen and watch the pandemonium that was still on-going over two minutes after the end of the game. And if someone did show they were an asshole on the line, she'd take care of it if it was one of hers, and let Phil or Fury deal with it if it was one of the Celestials.

Even the shitty parts of her job were worth it, with this kind of final outcome.

***

_"Ladies and Gentlemen, please direct your attention to the ice, as we present the Jack Kirby Trophy to the player deemed by the NAHL Press Corp to be the most valuable player during the entirety of the playoffs for the Stanley Cup."_

"Like everyone's looking somewhere other than ice," Bucky said quietly in an aside to Steve. "Jarvis the Elder just should have told everyone to shut up for a minute."

That earned him one of Steve's Very Pointed Looks, but Bucky just laughed. Then he mimed turning a lock on his lips when Steve actually started to shush him.

He'd be a good boy. Whichever of his teammates got the nod deserved his respectful attention, something he'd intended to give even without being silently admonished. He'd only riled Steve up because he was pretty sure Steve would be the one whose name was about to be called, and with his blood already high, Stevie would turn absolutely red in embarrassment at being singled out for just doing what he considered his duty to his teammates – to play the best damn game he could, each and every time on the ice, even when they were on the wrong side of a blowout or in a game that didn't really matter.

Of course, Natasha had done an outstanding job too throughout the playoffs, not just getting the goals and assists, but being a damn world-class spy with all the pucks she'd stolen. As had Clint, who when he missed a play, meant the other team usually scored, so he always had to be in top form and really, really had been. Not that Bucky was biased or anything.

If Bucky was a betting man, he'd have put his money down on one of those three, with maybe a little more going to Natasha's name, just so he could show he was better than his biases –

 _"_ – _to James Barnes."_

Unable to believe that he'd heard correctly, it took a push from Steve and a nod from Clint to get Bucky to skate over to where Commissioner Stan Lee was waiting. Even with the noise still coming from the crowd who'd barely thinned in the arena, Bucky could hear what sounded like half of the team laughing from behind him. He turned to look at them, mindful that they were being broadcast on national television so he couldn't give them the finger but he could give them his murder face, only to find that along with the laughter, there were looks of pride and satisfaction, and not just from his best friend, his boyfriend, and Natasha. It seemed as if the only one surprised to hear his name announced was himself. Certainly no one was looking vexed; like they thought someone else got robbed.

Bucky quickly turned back around, wishing his hair wasn't still so damp with sweat that he could use it to hide behind, as his plan to embarrass Steve just a little backfired spectacularly. At least the championship ball cap they'd been handed along with the towel would hide some of the redness he was sure was overtaking his face. He stuck out his hand in response to Commissioner Lee's offered one, then moved to hold up one side of the trophy with Lee on the other for the snap of a million flashbulbs before letting it drop back down. Probably a little harder than he should have, but fortunately nothing broke. Bucky then skated back to his teammates, dazzled by the lights that were still flashing, and by the honor he'd just been given.

More hugs, and handshakes, and pats on his back. Bucky felt like he was flying, cresting on a high that was amazing, and maybe a little scary, but even that was good; the thought on how he was ever going to equal this, much less top it, feeling like an incentive, not a burden.

***

"Couch Coulson, what do you want to say to your former team?"

Phil kept the same smile on his face that he'd worn for the last question – for all of the post-game questions. This was actually a question he'd thought about how to answer, should someone be crass enough to ask it.

"You have to remember that I chose to leave the Hydras organization without the awkwardness of being offered up. But I think I speak for each of us who came from some other team last year when I say to my former compatriots, thank you." Phil paused, surprised that the feeling of not being properly appreciated that had made his thank you sound sarcastic in his head, no longer applied. He was more surprised to realize his resentment from when Malik and Pierce hadn't even tried to talk him into staying with DC, had disappeared months ago, well before he had the fortune to become the most recent coach to guide his team to a Stanley Cup victory.

"When you love the sport, you think any team you're involved in is extraordinary," he tried to explain his epiphanies. "Every organization – along with each member of their staff and team – is special and has something to offer, which is why it's always hard to move, even if you think it will be for the best. I am grateful for my time with the Hydras, and give them a lot of the credit in how I've become the person that I am, even though some lessons were painful and not how I'd hoped I'd honed my coaching style when I first started. In being part of this first year team, I've had the opportunity to help mold a group of amazing individuals into something new, something that didn't exist before this year, something that has truly become a thing greater than the sum of its parts, if you'll forgive me the Aristotle."

"So, ah, you're saying that you didn't fit with the Hydras?"

"He's saying he fits better with the Avengers, Christine!" Stark yelled from where he and the rest of the team was still fooling around with the Cup and each other, no one quite ready to leave the ice although it'd had been over a half an hour since the game had finished.

"He's given you your soundbite already – hell, we all have, to all of you vultures," Stark added, coming over and skidding to an ice-spraying stop though he knew exactly how far away to remain so the ice only threatened Christine Everhart and the couple of other reporters who'd been interviewing Phil but didn't reach them. "Let the man join in the celebration; he won it just as much as we did. And stop trying to stir up some sort of controversy. If you want to hear some trash talk about a former team, come find me tomorrow. You know where I live."

With that, Tony took hold of Phil's elbow and pulled him around, not releasing him until Phil voluntarily took a couple of steps away from the reporters. While Tony's words were not the way he would have said it, Phil didn't exactly disagree with what Tony had said. He'd done his duty for the night; there'd be an official press conference tomorrow that Phil would do his best to make sure Nick answered most of the questions. Or Steve. Steve wouldn't swear at them like Nick was likely to, nor would Steve walk out on the reporters, again like Nick was likely to do. Maria would also have some interesting insights.

"Here, Phil, you haven't had your chance to hoist it yet."

Fortunately, Phil had already pocketed the final game puck that Clint had given him, so his hands were free when Steve Rogers handed him the Stanley Cup. It was both heavier and lighter than Phil had expected. According to the press guide, it was supposed to weigh 35 lbs., and when Phil lifted it over his head, just like all of the players had been doing to the delight of at least half an arena of fans who were still milling about in the stands, he feared for a moment that he was going to drop it. But from the way his players were looking to him, as well as the symbolism of the moment, Phil also felt as if he could have lifted something twice as heavy from all of the emotions he was feeling and seeing.

He didn't bother taking the victory lap with the Cup; had he been wearing skates, he might have, but walking around with it wasn't the same. Instead he handed it back to Steve, who then turned to hand it to Maria.

"That's okay," she said, waving him off. "I'll touch it when we start drinking the champagne from it."

"Locker room!" Hercules yelled out in response to that, high-fiving Thor and several of the others nearest to him.

It seemed that that was all the others were waiting for; someone to suggest they take their celebrations off the ice and into the locker room. Quite abruptly the mass of players and staff headed toward the ramp, raising sticks and saying goodbye to the fans, but ignoring the few reporters that had remained when the rest had left to file their stories.

Phil headed after them, not looking forward to a champagne bath – ah, who was he kidding? He so was looking forward to a champagne bath!

***

Showing and comparing bruises after a game was a time-honored tradition. Since Wakanda Technologies got the bid for the undergear used by both professional hockey and football players a few years back, not as many happened, especially with the newest generation of protectors and padded undershirts and pants made of very flexible plastic lattices and synthetic silk respectively. But if the impacts were hard enough, or hit one the thinner joint areas, bruising still happened – often with interesting shapes. Like the jump to lightspeed pattern radiating out about three inches on the right side of Clint's chest just under his collar bone-from that line-drive slapshot Maht Pacle had tried to put through Clint's shoulder instead of the net.

Okay, Clint might have purposely put his body between the puck and the net, but then that was his job. If his shoulder floater had shifted with his body like it was supposed to, it would have been fine, not that he wasn't fine. A little tender, maybe, definitely colorful, but Banner had the biggest mark tonight. Bruce's came down from the outside of his shoulder all the way to his elbow, from repeated impacts against the boards, with a stick-wide darker line bisecting it from a slashing hit that never got called on whichever Celestial had taken the cheap shot.

If Clint counted the strip across his left shoulder from where he'd gotten rammed into the goalpost by Peter and Cull, plus his black eye thanks to Proxima's cheap shot together with the slapshot, he might be able to declare himself tonight's winner but, frankly, he was too worn-out and aching enough that just the thought of calling attention to the bruises made them hurt all the more. It was all worth it, of course, would be worth even having another concussion if it meant the Avengers won the Stanley Cup. The real problem was that the adrenalin he'd been riding since the beginning of the third period through their celebration on the ice had drained away with the water from his post-game shower. So he was feeling every block, stretch and hit, and was so genuinely tired that he wasn't sure he was fit to drive himself home at the moment.

The teammates he'd feel comfortable asking if he could crash over at their places were undoubtedly just as exhausted, but he could probably talk Bucky and Steve into sharing a taxi tonight and tomorrow, so they could come back and get their cars –

"Listen up, everyone!" Maria Hill shouted over the general clamor and mayhem of the team locker room after a win – amplified by a thousand tonight and fueled by too much champagne and beer. Not happy with the buzzing still going on, Hill climbed up on to the end of bench holding Clint off the ground, and banged someone's stick on the nearest locker to show she was serious.

"Some of you have played on a team that's won the Cup before," she started again once the room quieted. "But you haven't played for Peggy Carter's team. For those of you who want to go out and party, that's fine, but we'd like you to put off your private celebrations for a couple of hours. Don't bitch, you'll like it," Hill added, before anything more than groans or booing got started.

Hill waited until she had everyone's attention again. "Ms. Carter has rented out the ballrooms of the Griffith Hotel for just us: team, staff and front office employees, plus the people you invited to tonight's game to do some private celebrating. Tonight will be catered by the Hala Guys and the Dominique Ansel Bakery, in addition to the hotel chef's own preparations. Your families are already on route, and the Cup is going to the hotel whether you do or not."

Any further grousing stayed muted; while some of his teammates wanted to be out with their adoring public, Clint, at least, thought a private celebration sounded a lot better than hitting a club or street party. Not that he'd planned to do either of those things regardless. But a chance to ride the high a little longer with the folks who made it happen …

At some point there would probably be a parade, plus they'd have all of the off season to show their appreciation to the fans – or be appreciated _by_ the fans. Now that his attention was brought to it, Clint discovered he was also almost as hungry as he was tired. He knew that while he could probably fall asleep even while surrounded by his teammates if he just leaned over onto his locker and closed his eyes, he'd also probably wake up in a couple of hours absolutely starving, if he didn't eat something before he crashed out.

Hill apparently wasn't done. "When I say private party, that's exactly what it means. No reporters, corporate sponsors, _agents_ , and definitely no puck bunnies. There are two team buses ready and waiting to get you there, and as Ms. Carter has also rented out rooms in the hotel for our use, I'll be taking car keys in exchange for hotel keys of any of you who want to take her up on it. Finish your damn showers and get dressed. The buses leave in ten."

Clint met Bucky's gaze from where he sat next to his own locker looking just as tired as Clint felt. Clint raised his brow and nodded his chin toward Hill. Bucky nodded yes, so Clint threw the fresh home jersey he'd found in his locker on over his street clothes, but stowed his newly acquired ball cap and towel back in; after nearly three hours in his helmet, he was done having shit on his head.

Food, a bed, and Bucky sounded like the perfect way to end this day.

***

The Griffith turned out to be a grand hotel from the turn of the _last_ century, tiny in comparison to the other buildings it stood amidst, reaching only five floors high including the lobby, but occupying the full city block as many Art Nouveau architectural structures did. Natasha fell instantly in love, and wondered that she'd never heard of it before tonight. She'd become quite a fan of the Art Nouveau movement – especially the Czech artist, Alphonse Maria Mucha – while still in Russia. She had made a point of visiting the still standing buildings from the time throughout Russia, Ukraine and Europe, as well as the ones documented in the historical registry for New York City when she'd immigrated to America. Locally she'd found only a few, as New Yorkers seemed to prefer the bolder geometric patterns of the Art Deco movement that had followed so swiftly.

The Griffith's lobby held a sweeping staircase up to the mezzanine with its ballrooms, framed by wrought iron railings full of curving vines reminiscent of the balustrades of the _Petit Palais_ in Paris in the typical black with inlaid silver blooms. Forget selfies with the Cup, Natasha wanted that railing as her backdrop. Or maybe pose in front of one with the Cup –

"You coming up, Tasha, or are you just going to stay there and caress the handrail?"

"You have no soul, Barton," she complained, but grudgingly took to the steps.

"I had a soul, but it got taken hostage by my stomach," Clint told her. "I think if I feed it some cronuts, I'll get the soul back, but probably not until morning. Then I'll run around with you to find all the museum pieces in this place."

"Fuck, Clint, make sure you have some protein before you drown yourself in sugar."

"But cronuts, Nat. Croooo –"

The room before them when Natasha opened the door was not what she expected. Oh, she wasn't surprised that the tables were covered in the sapphire blue of their home jerseys, with scattered balloons about the room in their accent colors of silver, black, and plum. Or that each table held centerpieces of miniature pucks, sticks and Stanley Cups, though she did wonder what would have been there if they'd lost. And the open bar, the tables of food, the number of people that already had food or drinks in hand; for a catered party, all of this was pretty standard. For this being a private party, however, comprised of just the organization and their closest friends or family, there sure were a lot more people than that should have accounted for. She didn't recognize half the people in the room in front of them, despite having had a year of gatherings, holidays, and charity gigs to meet everyone's closest.

It was funny, in a way, how a particular trio of those people she didn't know looked a lot like people she did, but Laynia, Yelana, and Ivan were all on tour with the show. Natasha turned toward Clint to ask who he had given his tickets to, and if he recognized the guy who was pushing Steve toward one of the tables – or the other guys waving at those two – but then she heard:

"There you are, Natka."  

She whipped back around. "Yelechka? But how?"

Okay, she'd looked like Yelena Belova, because she was Yelena.

"Your Peggy Carter," Yelena answered, before coming forward and greeting her properly.

"Yeah, and there's Barney," Clint muttered next to them. "Shit, _and_ Buck Chisolm! You know, Tash, if we were living in a bad science fiction movie-verse, having all of our friends and family here, even the ones that don't live on the East Coast, would mean aliens."

"It always means aliens to you, Clint. Go greet your brother, while I get toasted by my friends. We can compare notes and improvise weapons against the invasion later."

"You are not as funny as you think you are."

"Yes she is," Yelena said loyally.

Clint simply rolled his eyes, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then bolted toward his brother. Natasha watched him go for a second, before she turned back to her first friend here in America, and let herself be pulled toward her other closest friends she no longer had much opportunity to visit.

"He is cute. Are you and he – "

Natasha laughed. "He is only interested in that one," she explained, pointing over to Bucky, who was guiding his sister, whom Natasha had met several times previously, over toward where Steve and those she now suspected to be some of his Army friends were sitting.

"Poor Natalia. But you do have remarkable number of fine looking men to seduce into your web. I thought all hockey men were missing teeth."

"Only back home. And I'm not looking, at least not yet. But come, do better in explaining your presence here. I've been keeping track so that I can get tickets for some of my friends when you return to play the AIM Center, and I know you are supposed to still be in Toronto."

"Toronto is less than two hour flight and is not like we ask for much time away from show in years we skate for show," Yelena did as asked, speaking in broken English, because she liked to pretend she'd only been away from Russia for months, when it had been years. She'd never cared enough to learn to speak fluidly.

"When someone for your Peggy Carter called and said we had tickets for the final game of Stanley Cup, in private suite no less, plus hotel room for night, how could Mikhail tell us no? How could we _say_ no?"

How indeed? Natasha certainly wouldn't have, were she and one of the trio now before her in each other's shoes, not even if it would have meant her job. Jobs could always been found again. Even the Cup might be won again. But not like this.

Natasha greeted her other friends warmly, took a seat, and took one of the line of shot glasses sitting in front of Ivan as he poured from the bottle he might or might not have paid a corkage fee to bring in. She had no idea whether the Griffith's bar normally included Russian Standard Imperia vodka. Back when she'd been part of the show, the four of them would buy Imperia only for birthday celebrations, sticking to Smirnoff or Stolichnaya the rest of the time. It was always possible that whoever it was that had called her friends from the front office, had also asked about favorite liquors, and had made arrangements for the hotel to stock it…

Peggy Carter had been supportive of the team from the beginning, not just vocally but in opening up her checkbook to make sure they had the best in the industry equipment, facilities, and support staff. That made sense to Natasha, as substandard support led to substandard play. But to keep the private suites from the sponsors and other corporate bigwigs who would have paid astronomical fees to rent them out for the final game and basically give away the seats, and then rent out a hotel like the Griffith so that everyone on the team had someone who'd be rooting and celebrating specifically for each of them (Natasha was sure that the older couple hugging Thor had to be his parents from Norway, just as she now recognized Betty Ross, who worked in the front office of the Philadelphia Thunderbolts, the team that her father owned, from one of the picture of her that Bruce always wore inside his chest protector during a game) –

It was really quite astounding. Natasha had heard of no other owner who was so generous, not even from teammates about former teams they'd enjoyed playing for. Undoubtedly this was a one-time only thing, as no one could afford to spend this much money so frivolously as a standard. Nor was Peggy Carter a frivolous woman, although she seemed to be a content and joyful one in Natasha's few interactions with her.

Of course, it was also quite possible the team would tank in their second year, finally living down to the expectations everyone had had for them this year. It certainly was going to be hard, as a player, to do anything that could top this year, even if they did somehow return to the play-offs or even the Stanley Cup. First times weren't always the best times, but they were your most memorable. And when they did live up to expectations –

"To the Avengers," Ivan said as he finished pouring eight glasses, picking up one of them himself and then raising it.

"The Avengers!" they all repeated dutifully, before knocking the drink back and slamming the glass back down on the table.

"To our Natalia," Laynia toasted with the next glass while Natasha poured the third round. "Who achieved her goal. And scored two tonight too."

"Natalia!"

"To being allowed to share this with good friends," she saluted them in return.

"To sharing with friends!"

"Amen to that," Natasha heard Stark say from behind her.

Natasha half turned, ready to remind him she had said _good_ friends, but Pepper was standing there beside him, someone Natasha had quite come to like, and Tony already had a glass full of what she knew was only lemon-flavored water, as he'd stayed dry the rest of the season after Antoine Triplett's accident, not even breaking to drink any of the champagne tonight after their victory. Absent, also, was the typically smug expression that Tony wore.

Or maybe Peggy Carter's generosity was contagious, and the victory was causing Natasha to feel magnanimous.

"Tony, Pepper, please join us and let me introduce you to my friends."

"You're from the ice show?" Pepper asked.

"The Carnivàle, yes. We are doing Hans Christian Anderson tales this season. Yelena is the _Snow Queen_ , Ivan the _Steadfast Tin Soldier_ , and I am The _Ugly Duckling_ turned beautiful swan," Laynia gloated.

Stark laughed. "Oh, please, tell me that Natasha played a Disney princess at some point."

"You think I played a princess?" Natasha asked, rather astonished, as Stark seemed to cast her as his nemesis in various pranks (he wasn't as dumb as he pretended to be), over the season.

"In her last season, she played Grace O'Malley," Ivan said proudly.

"Oh, the Irish pirate queen?" from Pepper.

Ivan nodded. "She is as beautiful with a sword as she is with a stick."

To her surprise – and horror – Natasha started blushing. She never would have expected her show friends to even meet her hockey friends, much less find that it mattered that they got along. But they had, and it did, plus everyone seemed pleased with her, not that she was doing – or had done – anything special. She had believed for many years that she was fine without having a family. And she had been fine.

But she was better for having one, even – or especially – one of her own making.

***

"Have you come up with something to do when it's your day with the Cup?" Bruce asked as he and his girlfriend Betty came up beside Bucky.

Bucky had been looking at the Kirby Trophy sitting next to the Stanley Cup, not the Cup itself. He still wasn't sure how he was the one whose name would be added to the base. He shrugged and turned to better face the two.

"My niece, Hayley, wants me to bring it when it's her turn for family sharing day in school – I guess it's their version of show and tell."

"How old is she?" Betty asked.

Bucky blushed, "Uh, nine, I think? She's in the third grade."

Betty nodded. "Eight or nine then. So her school allows visitors?"

"I'm not sure about the specifics. This came up a couple of weeks ago, and she wouldn't believe me when I said there was no guarantee that we'd win. Apparently another girl in the glass brought in the Purple Heart her dad had received during Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya and got to brag on him for ten minutes, so Haley wants to show her up. Like a guy playing sports is somehow better than one who served his country."

"To eight and nine year olds, he probably is. You will have been someone at least one of the other kids in class has seen on television," Bruce pointed out. "Instant celebrity, which Haley will benefit from by association. My guess is some of the kids don't believe her if she's bragged on you already, and this would shut them up."

"So you think I should?" While Bucky hadn't for a moment not wanted the Avengers to win, it would have been a lot easier to help Haley find some reason to talk about her mother, when the only thing Bucky could have loaned her was a stick, puck, or jersey that, truthfully, could have been ordered by anyone from one of the on-line sites. Now he felt he was at least obligated to make the inquiry with Haley's teacher about coming in, and to come up with some alternative if they only allowed the object and not the person along with it. It wasn't like even he'd be allowed his day with the Cup without having a rep from the NAHL right alongside him the entire time, no matter how he chose to use it.

Bruce laughed. "I have no idea. Social status can be pretty important to and for kids, but it can just as easily cause as much harm as it does good. Until I have any – if I have any – then I'll have to decide where I come down on the spectrum. Neither of us," and only now would Bruce look at Betty after that Freudian slip, "have any siblings – or kids – so not even nieces or nephews."

"Yeah, well, other than that, I have no ideas of what to do with the Cup," Bucky concluded, bringing them back to the original question so he could give Bruce the out about his relationship, _and_ turn the question on him. "How about you?"

"Bruce is going to take it to various landmarks around town, take selfies, and then turn them into postcards that I can leave around the office for my father to have fits over," Betty answered first.

At least Bruce was grinning over that, and not bristling with anger as he almost always did at even the mention of Thaddeus Ross, the owner of his former team and Betty's father.

"Spite postcards. I like it. And I bet a lot of us have people we should send those to. You should also make it this year's Christmas card, if you do that kind of thing," Bucky suggested.

"Ooh, I like your new friends, Bruce. Amadeus Cho is the only Thunderbolt with a sense of humor that's twisted but not so far as to be called sadistic. Plus, they are all so very pretty, which makes them much more interesting to watch. Has Bruce told you that I actually despise hockey?"

Bucky shook his head, absolutely floored, since in his experience, relationships where one person strongly disliked something the other one was in to didn't work. "But aren't you the Thunderbolts' PR head?"

"Not really by choice," Betty responded, surprising Bucky again.

"I was going for my doctorate in cellular biology at Harvard, when my father announced to the world that I was the new head of the organization's media relations," she explained. "I debated telling him where to shove his announcement, but my research had just fallen apart and I feared I wouldn't get additional funding to pursue an alternate project, so I caved. It turned out I was pretty good at the job and saw immediate positive results from some of my suggestions, so when I then met and fell for Bruce, it was a good way to pursue something with him _and_ keep reminding my father – how did it go in that song? _Wishes come true, not free?_ With Bruce getting traded, I've just added a lot more travel destinations to my job and spend even more of Daddy's money, and there's not much he can do about it, other than fire me. Which he won't, unless I do something to screw up the organization. Which _I_ won't, because while some of the players and staff are exactly the type of people my father befriends, a lot of them aren't, and they don't deserve being screwed over by my family drama."

Vindictive and altruistic made for a weird combination, but Betty Ross made it work. Bruce certainly seemed to think so, and Bucky wasn't above wanting vengeance a time or two in his life himself, so who was he to judge?

"Do you actually despise hockey, or just that it's your father's top priority?" he asked, curious and also still a little worried on Bruce's behalf.

Betty gave him a cat/canary grin. On her, it looked mischievous, not malicious. "Cute and smart," she then said, turning a more honest smile toward Bruce.

"I learned an appreciation for the game," she admitted, turning back to Bucky to answer his question. "It certainly can be exciting, and I respect the hell out of you players. I can glide and keep my balance okay on the ice, right up until someone expects me to be able to push off with both feet, one after the other. Then, boom, flat on my ass. My mom used to skate; had her parents had the money, she probably could have competed in figure skating. Obviously, my dad planned on me taking her place after she died, never expecting I'd have lead feet." She suddenly stopped, an expression of mortification overtaking her face.

"Oh, my god, I must sound like a bitch; an overly mouthy one at that. Bruce, I told you to stop me –"

"She gets chatty when she's nervous," Bruce confided, not looking sorry – or displeased – at all.

God, but they were cute together. Natasha and Steve both accused him and Clint of being too mushy sometimes, but Bucky could only hope they'd be as good together as Bruce and Betty. Without intending to be rude to the couple, Bucky found his gaze shifting through the room, looking to see if he could find Clint.

They'd spent a little time together earlier, when they'd introduced Becca and Barney to each other, but there were a lot of people here tonight that everyone wanted to introduce to one another, not to mention dancing going on next door, and Clint was still one of the team's main touchstones, their lucky charm. (Whereas Steve was their leader, and Tony their face; always willing to take the interview someone else would rather skip). After such a win as tonight's, no matter who else you might talk to, everyone would be gravitating to one of those three, as well as probably Natasha and Thor, in order to get the non-American perspective on the team's achievement.

"I think I saw him last being dragged into the other room by Pietro and Wanda," Bruce offered, not misunderstanding where Bucky's attention had wandered.

Bucky nodded his thanks, but made no move to leave. He wasn't going to be ruder by just abandoning them.

"We're good," Betty said and gave a little wave with her hand. "Go. Find your man. I still haven't embarrassed myself in front of Thor. Or formally met Thor's charming brother."

Bucky nodded his thanks and stepped away to head toward the adjoining ballroom. He _thought_ he'd seen Luke Blake at one point earlier, and he supposed if Barney Barton and Buck Chisolm had been invited on Clint's behalf, it would have been a mark against her had Peggy not made sure that Loki was invited too, even if he was a Celestial. Bucky was more surprised that Loki had shown up, but then Loki probably wouldn't have known in advance that his father had come any more than Thor had. The question was whether Loki had actually stayed, though by all of Thor's accounts, Loki was very close to their mother.

The dance floor was crowded, folks dancing as much in groups or alone as they were in pairs, but fortunately, the music wasn't overpowering and threatening deafness, as all too many DJs seemed obligated to provide. Given how tired Clint had been just on the bus ride over, Bucky was a little surprised Clint had agreed to some dancing, but then he didn't deny much that the twins asked. Bucky had certainly found his own second wind easily enough from seeing the renewed excitement on his friends' faces when they'd arrived to find more friends and family awaiting them than expected.

Becca and her kids were his only family left, and there wouldn't have been anyone connected to the Hydras organization willing to come that he would have wanted here, so there hadn't been any surprise guest on his behalf, but that was fine. Everyone who was important to him was here. His best friend since forever, and Clint, who'd found a seat at one of the small tables around the edges of the room, discussing something with Tripp, Danni, and Katie-Kate.

Bucky started over.

***

"It's all quite something, isn't it?"

Steve glanced over at who'd come up next to him to order a drink and did a double-take. "Ms. Danvers," he stuttered.

"It's Carol, please," she responded, and held out one hand in Steve's direction. "And before you ask, I'm not here as a member of the press. I'm Nick's plus one for the night. For just tonight."

"I never would have presumed."

"No, I suppose you wouldn't, or so I've heard. From several people. Is it really true you were born on the fourth of July?"

Steve nodded, brought up better than to lie, but almost wishing he could. He feared he knew exactly where she was going with this, and had to wonder who he was going to put the hurt on – Morita or Falsworth.

"Oh, come on," she said, obviously reading his face. "A nickname like Captain America? How did you ever expect it not to get out with your Army buddies here tonight? If it makes you feel better about me, I would never presume to ask for that kind of dirt from your friends; Stark is the one who actually mentioned it to me. I also promise not to use it on air, at least not until the other Avengers start calling you by it regularly."

"Does that mean I shouldn't call you Captain Marvel?" Steve retorted, having learned a few personal things about the Leagues' all-time leading scorer from Coulson as well as from Fury.

"Only if you buy me a drink first. And Captain Marvel was a perfectly good name for the girl who went to Space Camp and was going to be an astronaut. Until she picked up a hockey stick. It's hella better than Binary, but then no one gets to choose their own nickname. At least not and have them stick."

Like probably a lot of people, Steve had assumed Carol's nickname of Binary had come from becoming the star for the Novas in her day, which he'd always thought was pretty cool. It wouldn't have translated well had she gotten traded later in her career, but as she hadn't …

"Calling you Carol is fine, but I'll still get you your drink. Name your poison."

They were fortunate that it was late enough now that some people had gone off to rest or celebrate elsewhere, yet there were still multiple bars set up, so that no one had to wait behind them for their own drinks while they'd been talking.

"Pellegrino with a lime twist. And one of those Gun Hill Void of Light bottles, please."

"That's good?" Steve asked of the beer. He was still leery of craft beers, after Tony had talked him into trying a chocolate peanut butter banana doughnut ale.

Carol looked at the bottle and shrugged. "If you like stout. And bitter chocolate. And coffee."

Her laugh was low and pleasant. It reminded Steve of Peggy's laugh, which in turned reminded Steve of his mom's. Or how he remembered his mom's to be.

"It's something of an acquired taste," Carol was still answering him. "I suggest going with the one from Luke's that they brought in. Luke's is a bar over in Hell's Kitchen that's been making something of a name for itself in the craft beer trade, and the ones they make available outside the bar are the ones with a more traditional flavor, leaving the experiments for their regulars. The Power Fist they've got on tap here tonight is particularly nice."

Steve signaled the bartender to add a glass of Power Fist to the order. "Don't ever ask Tony Stark for recommendations," he felt obligated to warn her. "I'd like to think he was just punking me, but it's quite possible he just doesn't have any taste for beer," he added as he followed Carol over to one of the empty tables, trying to soften what might have come out as criticism.

"Too plebian for his palette, no doubt."

"I think it was more because it took too much of it to get drunk," Steve responded before realizing he probably shouldn't have said such a thing. If she was enough of a friend of Fury that he'd invite her tonight, she probably wasn't the type to blab things out on air whether she promised she wouldn't or not. But Steve knew better than to spread gossip, even if it was about Tony and it had all been said before anyway. He would apologize, but it wasn't Carol he should be apologizing to.

"Ah, yes, I spent some time in that stage too," was what she said, reinforcing Steve's hope that she was a honest and straight-forward as she seemed.

"Fortunately, I didn't stay there long, and decided drinks that didn't get you drunk were a lot better than those that did. Now I just drink for taste and enjoyment, not for any of the other properties of alcohol."

"In some of the places I was stationed, you could trust the beer or even a cheap bottle of wine a lot more than you could the water," Steve confessed.

Carol nodded. "I was an Air Force brat growing up. My folks didn't have any problems with overseas postings, so I was pretty well-traveled as a kid, and exposed to lots of wines. I like sake well enough, but never really developed a taste for those produced from the grape. Including champagne. I hated getting doused in champagne, even given what it represented."

"I have to say, I didn't mind it tonight."

"Well, it was well deserved, Captain America. To the Avengers, and your mighty humbling of Josh Thanos and his Celestials."

***

"Shit, there's everything in here," Bucky called out from inside the bedroom of their suite.

"Mmm?" Clint responded, crouching down to open the minifridge. It wasn't that he was remotely hungry anymore, just curious as to what had been stocked. There'd been some covered nuts and crackers arranged on the small two person table, along with a small muffin basket just sitting there begging to be eaten when they came into the room. Additionally, it appeared, they had a small fruit and cheese tray and several bottles of water being kept cold. To take the edge off of morning before they made it down for the scheduled brunch at ten, he guessed.

Bucky leaned out from the doorway. "I said, there's everything we'd need in here. "A couple sets of team sweats and t-shirts so we don't have to wear tonight's clothes again during brunch– in appropriate sizes. Two super comfy hotel robes, and a toiletry kit stocked well beyond the tiny shampoos, soap and lotion. Assuming you don't mind a disposable razor."

"Is there underwear?" Clint asked, climbing back up to his feet.

"Well, no. But really? Wouldn't it be weird if there was?"

"How about condoms?"

Bucky's expression turned from perturbed to put upon. "Are you saying you're up for that?"

"Hell, no. Certainly not tonight, but we don't have to check out until 4:00 pm." Clint scrubbed at his face instead of giving Bucky the leer he deserved. "Shit. I think I'm on my fourth wind right now, and she ain't much for blowing. I was thinking about bed – " Pausing, Clint looked at his watch, having lost all track of time since the end of the game. "Fuck!, nearly three hours ago. How, for fuck's sake, is the nearly two in the morning?"

Bucky came out of the bedroom and up behind Clint so he could snake his arms around Clint from the back. And rest his chin on Clint's shoulder, while pulling Clint to lean back against his front.

"Because you insisted on waiting until after karaoke," was the whispered answer in Clint's ear.

Because Bucky was good like that, mindful of not being loud in such a situation. And because he knew his breath there made Clint shiver; the bastard.

"Don't get me wrong," he went on, continuing to wreak havoc on Clint's ear and neck. "Hearing Coulson sing _Secret Agent Man_ was totally worth it. And who knew Parker and Wanda were so good?"

Clint squeezed Bucky's hands, which he loosened in response so Clint could turn around in them. "Who knew Hercules and Steve were so bad," he said and they both laughed softly. "We should come up with something we can sing together the next time the team does karaoke."

"Later," Bucky said, but nodded. "You don't just look tired, you look beat. I'm pretty sure all this dark isn't just from bags." He gently touched the bruise on Clint's cheek. "This is turning into a real shiner. Might encompass the whole eye by tomorrow."

"It could have been worse. Hell, I've had worse." It's not that it didn't ache, or that Clint wasn't going to be pissed off for looking like a raccoon tomorrow during the press events, but short of using some makeup to cover it up, he was most likely going to have to put up with it for several days.

"Yeah, well, I didn't like it when you got your concussion early this year either. I wanted to give one to Murdock right back, but even I could see it was a sheer accident and not an intentional hit."

Clint kissed him for that, then left his forehead resting against Bucky's. "I hate seeing you get slammed into the boards," he confessed in a whisper. Not because it was any sort of secret but so as not disrupt the physical and emotional intimacy they'd woven around themselves. "I know it's part of the game, and that most of the time you're just fine, but I still want to take my stick to whoever did it."

"This type of thing is probably why some clubs have rules about no fraternization."

"They all want their teams to be close instead of fractious, pushing how we need to step up for each other," Clint countered. "You and I just take team building to a higher level."

"To the extreme and, no, I'm not complaining," Bucky was quick to add. "Which is why you're going to let me take you to bed right now."

"Bucky, I'm sorry, but I really meant it when I said I wasn't up for anything tonight." Clint knew he was whining, but it was more at himself for not wanting sex than at Bucky for asking.

"I'm not talking about sex, doofus. I just want to make sure you're really okay, and help you get comfortable. And while it might involve stripping you of all of your clothes, I promise, no shenanigans."

"I need to brush my teeth first. There are toothbrushes there for us, right?"

"There are, and there are even some heat wraps and ice packs, though I doubt you're going to stay awake long enough to use one tonight."

Clint could only nod at that. He'd probably pay for not treating his other bruises tonight, but it had already been longer than it should have, and Bucky was right about him falling asleep. He was pretty sure he could do it right now, as Bucky was already holding up more of his weight than was probably comfortable.

With reluctance, Clint pulled away and dutifully headed into the bedroom and its second in-suite bathroom. He unwrapped one of the toothbrushes and took care of things, tossing back a couple of ibuprofen he also found set out when he was done. He also drank a full glass of water. He didn't need to be hungover to be dehydrated; he'd drained his water bottle early in the third period, not that he would have had much time to take a drink during those last four minutes of the game regardless. What he'd then drunk at the celebration had pretty much been sweated out dancing.

Bucky had turned down Clint's preferred side of the bed and dimmed the lights. He gestured for Clint to take as seat on the bed, in front of where he'd already stacked a bunch of the pillows. Clint complied and let Bucky kneel down to get his shoes and socks, then let himself fall back in a recline on the pillows so they could get his jeans off without Clint having to stand back up.

"Underwear on or off?"

"No shenanigans?"

"Not tonight," Bucky promised. "But all bets are off come the morning."

"Take it all, then," Clint allowed, raising his butt so Bucky could work the clothes off his hips. If he'd been awake enough to think things through, Clint should have raised his arms before lying back – or taken his damn jersey and tee off himself.

Bucky didn't seem phased by the illogicalness of what got disrobed when, though. He skimmed the bundle down below Clint's knees before moving to Clint's feet so he could then tug them the rest of the way off without turning them inside out. "You know, I could get used to us doing this for each other on a regular basis," Bucky remarked casually as he folded both pairs of pants and set them in one of the bureau drawers. "Sweats?"

It took Clint too long to parse that Bucky's last word had nothing to do with the ones that came before it. But when he did, he jerked up onto his elbows. "No. And do not tell me you just suggested that we find a place to move in together!"

Bucky shrugged. "Well, it's not like I was thinking we'd look for someplace tomorrow or anything. I mean, we've got press, and the parade sometime this week, and I guess that Barney will expect you to play tour guide for a day or two. But when we become unencumbered, I thought we could at least discuss our requirements and maybe look at a few neighborhoods."

Finishing his own strip down, Bucky came back to the side of the bed and took both of Clint's hands to tug him back into a sitting position. "So that's a no?" he asked, tugging off the rest of Clint's clothes.

"No. Not really," Clint stuttered, weirded out by Bucky's nonchalance until he realized that it wasn't that Bucky wasn't invested in Clint's answer – he was too invested. Afraid of being laughed at maybe, and hurt or turned down, so Bucky had decided to go with pretending this was just a casual matter whose answer wouldn't really mean anything, or change anything when, of course, it was exactly the opposite.

"Oh, you fucking idiot," Clint chided before reaching out and tugging Bucky over. Half on and half off the bed wasn't as comfortable as it could have been, so Clint pushed to his feet so he could stand right in front of Bucky even if Bucky wouldn't lift his head and meet Clint's eyes. If his being the one to encircle instead of being encircled this time also made sure that Bucky wouldn't pull away, well … he'd use that too.

"Bucky, I wasn't saying no to you. Just to you broaching the subject when I don’t have enough brain cells to rub together to remember my current address, much less decide about a new one. As for living together, I just never thought it would be fair to inflict myself, much less us, on Steve any more than we already do. Nor did I think it fair to ask you to give up your home. I guess I figured we'd keep on doing what we have been; trading off nights at each other's place, and sharing rooms and the beds on the road. But I would love to move in with you."

Bucky finally looked up, his expression one of hope, relief, and maybe a little chagrin. ."Steve and I partnered on the Brownstone because it was something we'd always talked about when we were kids, and because we hoped to stay on the team for more than a season. That if we put down roots, it would show Carter and Fury we were committed to making the Avengers work," he explained in a rush. "The current arrangement was always expected to be temporary, though. We figured _one_ of us would find someone we cared enough about romantically to move out, or ask the other to move out and the partner to move in. So now it'll just be something in my investment portfolio."

"You're sure?"

Bucky nodded. And gave Clint a kiss that was doing a pretty good job of waking him up the rest of the way that indignation and then concern had started.

Clint gave as good as he got, his hands slipping down from Bucky's waist to his ass.

"So, Clint Barton, you lead your team to the Stanley Cup win," Bucky said as they broke the kiss. "What are you going to do next?"

"Sleep?"

Bucky's "Try again," came with a growl.

"Move in with Bucky Barnes?"

That got him an "Acceptable," and then another kiss.

"And get a dog."

 

[](http://imgbox.com/zCq3U5zx)

 


	2. Rosters and Notes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those folks wondering about their favorite characters that might not have a mention in the story, I will be adding more team rosters over the next few days.

 

  

Hockey 'Verse to MCU/DCU/Comic 'Verse(s) Counterparts (and a few misc hockey 'verse notes)

 

_Atlantic Division:_ Manhattan Avengers, DC Hydra, Montreal Flights, New England Shields, Carolina Blades, Philadelphia Thunderbolts

_Pacific Division:_ Seattle Celestials, Vancouver Starlings, Silicon Valley Engineers, San Francisco Defenders, Portland Mystics, Malibu Superstars

_Northern Division:_ Denver Guardians, Toronto Hellions, Chicago Wonders, Cleveland Titans, Westchester Extrodinares

_Southern Division:_ Calgary Justicars, Orlando Mists, New Orleans Rogues, Las Vegas Jokers, Dallas Novas, Phoenix Chimaras, Atlanta Scoundrals

 

Manhattan Avengers              =   The Mighty Avengers

Peggy Carter (Owner)             =   Peggy Carter

Nick Fury (General Manager)  =   Nick Fury

Phil Coulson (Head Coach)     =   Phil Coulson

Maria Hill (Assistant Coach)   =   Maria Hill

Melinda May (Goalie Coach)   =   Melinda May

Clint Barton                           =   Hawkeye

Bucky Barnes                         =   Winter Soldier

 Steve Rogers                         =   Captain America

Tony Stark                             =   Iron Man

Donald Blake                         =   Thor

Bruce Banner                         =   Hulk

Paul Jarvis                              =  Vision

Sam Wilson                            =   Falcon

Natasha Romanoff                 =   Black Widow

Alkhema Jocasta                    =   Jocasta

James Rhodes                        =   Iron Patriot

Wanda Maximoff                    =   Scarlet Witch

Peter Parker                           =   Spiderman

Dane Whitman                       =   Black Knight

Pietro Maximoff                     =   Quicksilver

Alcaeus Hercules                   =    Hercules

Jack Monroe                          =     Nomad

Sharon Carter                        =     Agent 13

Kate Bishop                           =     Hawkeye

_Team Colors:_ Sapphire, Plum, Black

 

Seattle Celestials

J'Son Russel (Owner)                   = Ego

Josh Thanos (GM & Head Coach  = Thanos

Lawlor Maw                                =  Ebony Maw

Alexis Chitari                             +  Chitari Alien

Shaw Corvis                               =  Corvus Glaive

Gregor Chitari                           =   Chitari Alien

Terry Cull                                  =  Cull Obsidian

Glaree Kree                               =   Kree Soldier

Luke 'loki' Blake                        =   Loki

Lee Ronin                                 =   Ronin the Accuser

Carrie Proxima                         =   Proxima Midnight

Taneleer Tivan                         =    The Collector

En Dwi Gast                              =    The Gamemaster

Ummon Tarru                          =     Black Swan

Astran Molyn                            =    Metal Master

Endri Drall                                =    Gladiator From Beyond The Stars

Tryco Slatterus                         =    Champion of the Universe

Tyros Terrax                            =    Terrax the Tamer

Maht Pacle                               =     Obliterator

Kamo Tharnn                           =     Possessor

 

_Team Colors_ : Navy, White, Gold

_(Celestials Expansion Draft Trade:_ Paul Jarvis)


End file.
